You have to believe in the long term plan you have but you need the short term goals to motivate and inspire you.
With all the injury problems we have in men’s tennis at the moment, I’m happy to still be standing.
My aim over the next few months is that I have a lot of points to defend in Miami and Hamburg, after that I can set my sights on No. 1.
I let the evening unfold. I’m the sort of guy who likes to sit in the chair and look at the wine glass.
I had a nice dinner. I let the evening unfold, flow. I like to sit in a chair with a wine glass. When I woke up, I thought, ‘Why didn’t I go to bed at 11?’ I came back at 3 and went to bed at 5.
The nicer the point, the more – the better I feel, the more excited I get. But I never play that my opponent looks stupid. I think that is wrong. I have too much respect for every opponent I play.
I was aware of how incredible the match was. Unfortunately there had to be a winner. From my point of view many left feeling sorry for me instead of being happy for Rafa. Which hurts.
One or two years ago, I didn’t know who I was on court and I used to swear a lot. But now I’ve learned how to cope and can therefore win 10 matches in a row. I want to be remembered as a good player rather than an idiot on court.
Every match I go into, I’m the huge favorite. I lose a set and it’s, like, crazy.
When I think of the Olympics I only think of good things. I think of what a great event it is and what it has done for me and my career, and changed my personal life, too.
Sometimes I am a different character in different languages. I have different enjoyment from them. Sometimes different answers come out of me. Like, I didnt even know that about me. I get to know myself through different languages, actually.
I always had the dream that, once I became No 1 in the world, that if I had a child I hoped I would have it early enough so the child can see me playing.
My heart is in South Africa, through my mum. My mum being from here, me spending a lot of time here as well, I feel most connected to this part of the world.
I don’t mind fans coming up in a friendly, respectful way. That’s all part of the fun of being a top tennis player. But if people take pictures without permission, particularly if my children are in the shot, I feel uncomfortable.
Clearly, when you win everything, it’s fun. That doesn’t necessarily mean you love the game more.
My wife doesn’t like Football but she watches it just for Messi.
I did all the right things in so many tournaments. But like I said, sometimes in sports it just goes the other way. Maybe you’ve already won so much that it evens it out a bit sometimes. I don’t know.
It’s just unreal, I’m shocked myself. I’ve played good matches here, but never really almost destroyed somebody.
Maybe further down the road in my career, in a couple of years when I’m maybe not that fast any more around the court, then maybe it would be good to come to the net a little bit more often.
In the locker room I was getting impatient to get on the court, I had to warm up several times.
You live during the match, and you have strong emotions, but you don’t want to get too overexcited. My body’s totally flat now. I cannot move anymore. I’m totally exhausted, just because of the tension out there.