Tennis Pressure Quotes

Even if I play backgammon with my coach, I hate to lose. I won't talk to him for, like, an hour. So imagine how it feels when you lose at tennis. That makes me determined not to lose because I hate it so much. Even at a set down and match point, I always believe I can come back.

One time, I got to go play with lion cubs in Johannesburg. It was amazing. But it's difficult when you're on the road. We're always playing tennis, and there's a lot of pressure. So sometimes you don't get to do the things you'd like to do, because the priority is tennis.

The first three years, I don't think I would leave my hotel room outside of tennis, because I was like, 'I got to rest, I got to rest.' It was like sort of a paranoia to do everything as best as I can.

It's tough when you're No. 1. You don't have any private life, you can't even walk anywhere. I think that was one reason why I lost my motivation to play tennis.

If you're playing someone you care about, it's tough, and I don't want to be in that situation. We are playing big matches for big points and prize money, and I take it very seriously. I relax when I'm outside tennis.

When I come to London, it is always quite relaxing for me in a way, not just because it is one of my favourite cities but because it comes immediately after the French Open, which for me is a very significant tournament with lots of pressure.

It was quite the intimidating Sunday afternoon, US Open finals day for me. Sixteen years old, the 16th seed, second major, first US Open, as an amateur, playing Chris Evert.

To cry on court during a Wimbledon final, you must feel so lonely.

I was getting, at like 18, 'Why haven't you won a Grand Slam yet?'

So I was doing well academically, and I was a well-ranked tennis player and was the apple of my handsome father's eye-and then I would bring home a report card with a B-plus on it, and my parents would look at the report card as if I'd flunked. "Uh, honey?" one of them would ask, looking perplexed. "Now, this isn't a criticism but, if you could get a B-plus in philosophy, how much harder would it have been to get an A-minus?"