MILOS RAONIC

The first three years, I don't think I would leave my hotel room outside of tennis, because I was like, 'I got to rest, I got to rest.' It was like sort of a paranoia to do everything as best as I can.

I remember when I first started playing tennis, it was always my sister dressing me. She wanted me to look good. And then it really became a routine for me. It doesn't consume too much of my day, but it's something I always pay conscious attention to.

Canada has been phenomenal to myself, my brother, my sister, their kids, my parents. They came there. They worked very hard. They came with a great education, very good heads on their shoulders with the simple thought of going there with almost nothing and just saying, 'We're doing this to give our kids the best opportunity possible.'

I used to ski. I still play basketball a little bit. I'll play soccer but more in a safe environment, never on a full-grass pitch.

I'm demanding and critical about myself. It's something my parents passed on to me.

I grew up watching North American sport - basketball, hockey - so I like it when it's a little bit more energetic, rowdier, heckling either for you or against you. I think it's fun to have that in sport.

It's important to me to defend the Canadian colours. And I don't just do it in tennis. I might now follow hockey as much as the average Canadian, but I support several Canadian teams. I'm a big fan of the Toronto Raptors. On top of that, I love my country, simple as that. It's a magnificent country; the people are really welcoming.

For me, a big thing, because I have really long legs, is core stability. It's very important not only for injury but also just to be able to carry my weight around properly and not feel like I'm collapsing in specific situations when I'm stretched out too far.

One time, I got to go play with lion cubs in Johannesburg. It was amazing. But it's difficult when you're on the road. We're always playing tennis, and there's a lot of pressure. So sometimes you don't get to do the things you'd like to do, because the priority is tennis.

At the end of the day, it's not really about the aces, it's about getting the job done.

I would love to win a slam by the end of my career, and I would love to achieve other things. It's just that I am not a patient guy. When I want something, I try to get it as quickly as I can.

It's an amazing feeling: tennis is growing very quickly in Canada, and to be a big part of it is an honour.

There are still going to be great players that are baseliners. That's the way tennis - courts, balls, everything - has shifted. But everyone has to find their own way to win. Not everyone can run around the baseline for five hours. I can't.

When I'm playing well because of my serve and trying to keep points shorter, I don't need to worry about my opponent. All I need to do is focus on myself and have them adjust to me rather than me adjust to them. That's when I play my best tennis.

You can ask a lot of the people around me - I'm very demanding. I expect them to be as intense about my tennis on a daily basis as I am.

I used to have this superstition where I had to eat steak every night before I played, and my nutritionist told me don't do that. So after I lost that one, the other ones fell off pretty quickly.

When I speak to people I worked with when I was young, they constantly tell me they wish their students would work half as hard as I did. I was always one to get a lot more out of myself, seeing the glass as half-empty rather than half-full.

My game plan - doesn't matter who I play - is to play on my terms, to control as much as I can, to try to get control of the centre of the court, to try to dictate and make them move, to be their director rather than letting them impose their game on me.

Even in Canada, I never even played ice hockey. I never skated in my life; I always did rollerblade street hockey.

I have an inability after matches are over to sort of switch off and relax completely.

The responsibility I have is a great thing, from helping tennis grow in Canada, but also in the future, being able to do stuff through my foundation, helping kids, and helping everyone I can, and really trying to make a difference. It would be a shame to be in the spotlight, have a voice and not do much with it.

They say Montenegrins are intelligent, and maybe that's why I was pretty good in school.

The thing I would hate myself for the most or regret the most is if I did not push myself to maximize my potential and my abilities.

Masculinity comes from your look, all the way down to your attitude. It's a big part of being a tennis player. Even though tennis is a fairly friendly sport, intimidation is still a big part of it.

At age 12, or even eight or nine, athletes were my role models. So when I would say I wanted to be the best, it was just because I was seeing my idols and wanted to do that. I don't think it necessarily was the most realistic thought process.