I never wanted to be the great guy or the colorful guy or the interesting guy. I wanted to be the guy who won titles.
All I cared about in tennis was winning.
I made it look so easy on court all those years. No one realized how hard I had to work. No one realized how much I had to put into it. They underestimated my intensity.
I let my racket do the talking. That's what I am all about, really. I just go out and win tennis matches.
In tennis, you can make a couple of mistakes and still win. Not in golf. I played three rounds in that Tahoe event, and I was drained. Mentally, not physically.
After I went through two years of not winning an event, what kept me going was winning one more major. Once I won that last U.S. Open, I spent the next six months trying to figure out what was next. Slowly my passion for the sport just vanished. I had nothing left to prove.
A champion is suppose to hate to lose, and it wasn't like I was ever crazy about the idea. But I learned to deal with losing without having my spirit or confidence broken, which would help immensely over time, not just in the big picture but even in specific matches when I found myself in a jam. Fear of losing is a terrible thing.
Choking is being in a position to win, and then experiencing some critical failure of nerve or spirit. That never happened to me. And I can't help but think it was because I was never afraid to lose.
By putting pressure on myself to develop a great game, I had less pressure to win. These days, I tell kids that the way I grew up, it wasn't about winning. It was about playing well, about playing the "right" way. That approach helped me enjoy the game and develop mine to its maximum potential.
I'm not worried about the weekend, I'm worried about Saturday.
Throughout my career, my mind rarely wandered, and I was never sidetracked by distractions, no matter what I was going through off the court.
In tennis, you can make a couple of mistakes and still win. Not in golf.
My goal one day is to be in the same sentence as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall.
When I committed to playing a little tennis in some exhibitions, it was the best thing for me. It got me in shape. It got me out of the house. It got me doing something I love to do.
Tennis is seen all around the world; if I am home or anywhere in the country, United States, people will stare.
I don`t know why, but I love the dog eat dog nature of tennis. It`s real, it`s brutal and there`s no hiding place - it's like a one to one street fight. I love the intensity that comes with knowing you walk off court either a winner or a loser. It`s daunting but very exciting. There is no one to blame except yourself, no one cares who comes second.
Golfers are forever working on mechanics. My tennis swing hasn't changed in 10 years.
I've always led a pretty simple life, with few extravagances. The money in tennis never drove me.
It's one-on-one out there, man. There ain't no hiding. I can't pass the ball.
I admire the way golfers handle themselves. But tennis players are a lot younger, as a rule. There aren't many teenagers on the golf tour.
People wrote me off, but I believed in myself. I got the confidence back, and it grew and grew. I won my first major and my last at the place that changed my life.
I guess I get my strength from my legs, which are also important in tennis.
If Davis Cup was a little bit less or once every two years, I would be more inclined to play. But the way it is now, it is too much tennis for me.
Once the US Open is over in the States, mainstream America doesn't really follow tennis, unless you are a true tennis fan.
People know me. I'm not going to produce any cartwheels out there. I'm not going to belong on Comedy Central. I'll always be a tennis player, not a celebrity.
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