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Pro
Tennis Player
Quote Archives
January - June, 2006
June 24, 2006: "I
can't say that I was my happiest on court, but
I felt completely free. Free from family obligations,
free from my own torment. In a real sense I was a different
person. It was a place where I could not tolerate the
idea of being beaten. I psyched myself up into a state
where I felt something close to hatred towards my opponent,
a state where I detested the idea of someone making
his name at the expense of Jimmy Connors. I was in my
element on court, measuring myself against someone else.
I was not competitive for show. It came from deep within."
— Jimmy Connors, telling
The Times (UK) about the inner torment that
fueled his competitive fire during his storied 21-year
pro career.
June 12, 2006: "You've got Nadal, swashbuckling Nike-like Agassi, and Federer is kind of like Sampras. The reason it is so epic and special is that one guy is on the verge of chasing history and one guy might be the best clay-court player since Borg. So to make history, he has to go through the new Borg."
— Brad Gilbert, former
world No. 4 and now a TV tennis analyst, on why the
Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry is so compelling.
June 1, 2006: "Many
people take away things from Sampras because he never
won the French, saying his career was not complete,
which I totally disagree with. I think he had the best
career of any player ever."
— Roger Federer, telling
the Associated Press that he wants to avoid that same
criticism by winning the French Open this fortnight.
May 15, 2006: "We
have to start kids younger on clay. If you don't,
they're going to be afraid of it. It's absolutely
essential that you learn to slide and glide on clay
at an early age. And you have to understand that you're
going to need more defense out there. You're always
going to have to make an extra shot."
— Two-time French Open champion
Jim Courier, on why American standouts Andy Roddick,
James Blake and Robby Ginepri have fared poorly on
European clay courts, in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
May 1, 2006: “Serena
should be in her physical prime, but she is wasting
time you cannot ever get back. She had the opportunity
to be the greatest in history. Instead, she'll
be a supernova who burst on to the scene, and then she
was gone. Serena has a gift, and she's not using
it. What you really regret are the things you didn't
do. Will she get it together, or will she fall so low
she'll need wildcard invitations? She may find
by then that her head will be there, but her body won't.
It's a sad situation.”
— Martina Navratilova,
on absent tennis superstar Serena Williams, in The
Telegraph (UK).
April 15, 2006: “It
is simply indefensible that 127 women's singles
competitors and an equal number of women's doubles
players in a grand slam tournament should be receiving
considerably less prize money than their male counterparts.”
— Larry Scott, CEO of
the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, applauding the French
Open's decision to award equal prize money ($1.13
million) to the men's and women's singles champions
for the first time, but rightly contending there should
be parity for the remaining players.
March 26, 2006: “It
will titillate for a time and bring the protagonists
some peace of mind as they trudge back to the service
line. But if tennis administrators seriously think that
bringing Hawk-Eye into play on a few show courts is
going to broaden their fan base in a significant way,
they are as self-delusional as an aspiring professional
with a wooden racket. ”
— Christopher Clarey, New
York Times columnist, on instant replay by Hawk-Eye,
an electronic line-calling system, used on the show
courts at the Nasdaq-100 Open.
March 12, 2006:“I
am totally against it. I think it will destroy the game.
It will slow it down, lose the momentum and the motion
of the game. Who was this genius who came up with this
stupid idea? Who approved it? They are looking for solutions
on how to save the game, and this is not it. It is bull.
This definitely is not the way to help the game.”
— Marat Safin, telling
the Orange County Register that he opposes
instant re-play and player challenges that will be
used for the first time by the ATP and the WTA Tours
at the Nasdaq-100 Open.
March 1, 2006: "The
game back then was stronger at the top. Wilander, Lendl
and Connors, those guys were ultimate warriors. In those
days, Mac could snooze into the quarters. But now players
are monumentally better from No. 10-150 in the rankings."
— Brad Gilbert, The former
world No. 4 player, comparing 1984 when John McEnroe
racked up an Open Era won-loss record of 82-3 and
13 singles titles, to 2005, when Roger Federer notched
an 81-4 mark with 11 titles, including two Grand Slams
and a record four ATP Masters Series crowns, on ESPN.com.
February 16, 2006:
"There was kind of a code that you had as an Australian
that you never left the court losing unless you had
blood all over you. That's the sort of toughness
you need to compete on the world stage, and I feel that
our kids today just don't have it.”
— John Newcombe, a 1960s-‘70s
champion and former Australian Davis Cup captain.
February 1, 2006:
"There were many occasions in my career where I
could have given up, where I asked myself whether I
would ever make it.”
— Amelie Mauresmo, who
won her first Grand Slam crown, the Australian Open,
at age 26, confiding to L'Equipe.
January 15, 2006:
"The ATP, misdirected, is trying to kill doubles—the
people's game—altogether. For shame."
— Bud Collins, Tennis
Hall of Fame journalist, on the destructive ATP doubles
reforms, in Tennis Week magazine.
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