Professional Tennis Quotes

I think I'm realising that careers for tennis players are very short. On the women's side now, players are starting to peak later on, but the average age is about 31, 32 when you finish playing, so I want to make the most of it while I'm young, fit, and healthy. I don't want to waste any time.

I'm amazed that years after I stopped playing tennis, people still recognize me in restaurants and ask for my autograph.

At the very beginning of my career, when I opened my business in Italy, I was also a ranked tennis player. I had won many tournaments. To be an athlete was my first choice. Second choice: designer. However! There was more money in being a designer at that time.

I'm not the next Kournikova-I want to win matches!

I don't want to get into the U.S. Open through the back door. I want to earn it.

Since I retired, I very much enjoy watching Serena Williams play. While I was playing, she was one of the toughest players I ever faced. Her ground strokes are so solid, her serve is one of the most powerful in women's tennis, and mentally she is just so strong.

Tennis is seen all around the world; if I am home or anywhere in the country, United States, people will stare.

I want to be a top-10 player and I want to win a Grand Slam tournament.

My favorite tournament is the U.S. Open because the atmosphere is great.

I have to fit holidays around tournaments, particularly the grand slams, in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.

Winning a Grand Slam is not something I'll think about.

I've always wanted to play Davis Cup. I love Davis Cup.

Up until I was a junior at Georgia, I felt that when all was said and done, I'd at least have a college degree to fall back on when tennis was finished.

I did always dream of being a professional player. I think every kid does dream of being a pro, but to last the journey you have to love tennis as a sport and if you are lucky enough to make it in the pros, it is really a bonus.

Rafa is one of the most fair players on the tour.

Anna Kournikova will always be better paid than Lindsay Davenport. The first left the circuit without having won a single title while the second was world number one.

I never thought I was going to make a career out of tennis, to be honest, until I was 10 or 11 years old. One of my earliest memories is when I was seven, and I was competing against players that were three, four years older than me. I didn't take it too seriously at the time. I was having a lot of fun.

I did realise more than ever, after the stabbing, that tennis is a business - a tough business.

I'm an outside chance at Roland Garros but my focus is really on Wimbledon where it is realistically between me and Roger Federer to win.

I always said if I had to pick one Grand Slam to win, it would be the U.S. Open.

There's no better stage than the U.S. Open for me

Being world No 1 would be fantastic but you'd like to do it by finishing the year as No 1 without anything happening off the table to someone else's ranking.

I still get goose-bumps when I walk into the All England Lawn Tennis Club at the start of tournament and that will never change.

When Hoad and Rosewall were at their best, and I was a youngster, they had no qualms about saying, 'Hey kid, let's go and play.' That helped me to get up the ladder.

I don't have a doubt that if I wanted to win Grand Slams, I would commit. I'd train two times a day. I'd go to the gym every day. I'd stretch. I'd do rehab. I'd eat right.