I don`t know why, but I love the dog eat dog nature of tennis. It`s real, it`s brutal and there`s no hiding place - it's like a one to one street fight. I love the intensity that comes with knowing you walk off court either a winner or a loser. It`s daunting but very exciting. There is no one to blame except yourself, no one cares who comes second.

Once the US Open is over in the States, mainstream America doesn't really follow tennis, unless you are a true tennis fan.

The way I look at the top five, (Rod) Laver, (Roger) Federer, myself, Borg and (Ivan) Lendl. I think those five guys dominated their generations better than anyone. Maybe Roger will dominate better than any one of the other four. Maybe I put Andre (Agassi) as kind of six through 10 with, you know, (John) McEnroe and (Jimmy) Connors, kind of those guys. That's kind of how I see it.

Choking is being in a position to win, and then experiencing some critical failure of nerve or spirit. That never happened to me. And I can't help but think it was because I was never afraid to lose.

My serve was there, everything was just clicking. Those are the days you dream about, especially in a final.

I'm not going to give in to the critics. I'm going to stop on my own terms, not on when someone else thinks I should.

I'm enjoying my retirement, enjoying my life. I have two kids and a lot of my time is spent chasing these two animals.