Tennis has given me soul.

Being blunt with your feelings is very American. In this big country, I can be as brash as New York, as hedonistic as Los Angeles, as sensuous as San Francisco, as brainy as Boston, as proper as Philadelphia, as brawny as Chicago, as warm as Palm Springs, as friendly as my adopted home town of Dallas, Fort Worth, and as peaceful as the inland waterway that rubs up against my former home in Virginia Beach.

Once you start believing in yourself, anything is possible. Once you start believing in yourself, your dreams take shape. The more you believe, the more you achieve.

If it feels right in your gut, this is who you are, this is what you do, this is what you feel, then don't hide that. You just stick to it and the world will catch up.

I know some of my self-worth comes from tennis, and it's hard to think of doing something else where you know you'll never be thebest. Tennis players are rare creatures: where else in the world can you know that you're the best? The definitiveness of it is the beauty of it, but it's not all there is to life and I'm ready to explore the alternatives.

I shouldn't say I'm looking forward to leading a normal life, because I don't know what normal is. This has been normal for me.

The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.