I just hated to lose.
If you’re afraid of losing, then you daren’t win.
I had a great tennis career. I have no regrets. But to find peace with yourself, and to finally be with your family – I’m probably the happiest guy in the world.
I have a great family, great kids. I have practically everything, you know? Sometimes I have to pinch myself. It’s really true: Life starts at 50.
You have to find it. No one else can find it for you.
The ball is round, the game is long.
When I retired from tennis I wanted to do other things with my life.
It’s not easy to part with the trophies. However, I do need to have some long-term financial security for those close to me.
Sure you have feelings and you get emotional and angry but I kept everything inside because I think I still had that thought in my mind – I didn’t want to get suspended again.
My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match.
You never know how long Federer is going to play, but in my opinion he has at least one or two more grand slams to win. It depends how long he stays motivated. For me, he is the greatest player to ever play the game.
Basically I started playing double handed on both my forehand and backhand side because my first racket was very heavy.
I was fascinated by a compelling character embroiled in a controversial topic that told the story from a different point of view.
Tennis is a traditional game. A big sport like tennis does not need too many changes. The game has become too fast, there are hardly any long, interesting rallies these days. So maybe slowing down the courts could help. But you can’t really stop a sport from evolving.
Roger Federer is stylish.
I’m amazed that years after I stopped playing tennis, people still recognize me in restaurants and ask for my autograph.
I wanted to win, even in practice.
You know growing up in Sweden meant we had a lot of rain when we played tennis. We were taught on clay courts but because of the weather, we had to go indoors a lot.
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.
I play tennis five hours a week, from Monday to Friday, for one hour every day. I like to be fit. If I can’t exercise, I feel bad – I need to sweat and run to feel like I’m in good shape.