Sports Sacrifice Quotes

When I was 13, tennis became more of my life. It's when I gave up skiing, I gave up winter sports. I still played varsity basketball my freshman year of high school - basketball was the last sport I gave up for my tennis.

At just 16 years old, I was told that my back would never be the same again. My well-being had been neglected for the opportunity to win a gold medal.

I started my cooking 'career' aged 15, almost 20 years ago. At the time it was quite a shock suddenly working 75 to 80 hours a week, without time to play football or other sports.

I grew up playing sports, but now I feel like I can't, because if I get injured, I'll impair whatever film I'm working on.

I was a bowler - left arm, smash it down as fast as I could. I did a lot of work with Damian D'Oliveira, and I probably had a chance of doing that for a living. But when I reached 16, I knew I couldn't carry on playing both football and cricket, and I was already in the Shrewsbury squad.

Maybe I should have played two more Australians and two less Davis Cups? I could have had more majors and still have three Davis Cups when most people don't have one.

You don't really get to witness what athletes go through. Like, the sacrifices and stuff like that. It's by far the most amazing, beautiful thing.

We train and work so hard in our sport, we would be nothing less than a warrior. Day in, day out, this is our life. It's everything. The Olympic dream.

My parents told me either I choose badminton, or school has to make the best of me.

It is just a crazy life as a sportsman. My daughter, Sam, wants to go into tennis, and I tell her, 'No, you don't want to go into professional sport.'

On the international scene you travel away, come back, feel sluggish and it's very difficult, so my decision was so that I could save myself for West Ham. I know Scotland fans won't like that, but they needed a young, fit, energetic lad to come in there.

Life for me outweighs the game of basketball.

The team needs me out there on the field. And sometimes you allow that to jeopardize yourself, but that's just the nature of the world.