When I walk through that gate to the court, that's my escape. I block out everything, good and bad.

I owe a lot to my parents.

There are days when I go out on the court and I feel like I can't miss a ball.

Whenever I have friends over, we end up eating and talking and losing track of time, and, once in a while, singing karaoke. It reminds me of the family meals we had in Russia, which always lasted a very long time. That's a tradition I miss.

When you travel so many weeks a year, it's always nice to have a home-cooked meal.

I never think about the numbers. I've never played tennis for the money, because as long as I enjoy it, and I can achieve anything, then the money will come. I know that things will start coming up, many more people will want to start getting involved. But I just want to keep my head cool, and I want to leave (business) to the people who take care of business. I just go out and I just play tennis.

When you're going through tough moments, you never know when you're going to have good moments.