Tennis Inspiration Quotes

I'm hesitant to compare myself to Roger Federer in any way, but he's improved while he's in his thirties. That makes you believe that even though you may have struggled for a few years, there's still hope.

Growing up, I wanted to be Chris Evert.

If you want to be a tennis player, then mould yourself on Roger Federer. I won three Wimbledon titles and I wish I could play like him.

Billie-Jean King used to take me out on court and say that she just wanted to watch my forehand. You can't get greater praise than that.

You also can understand how to play tennis from Serena Williams, and she is awesome. I haven't seen her Masterclass but just watching her on the court - I saw some of Wimbledon on TV and there's such an awesome force in her and focus and determination and technique, you just look at her and it's awesome. If I would like to learn tennis I would immediately turn to her.

My sporting hero was Drazen Petrovic, the NBA basketball player, who was killed in a car accident in 1993. He was a good friend, an unbelievable player, and I dedicated my Wimbledon win to him.

I won't admit to having a poster of Borg on my bedroom door. But I certainly found him to be someone who got me way more into tennis.

Andy Murray's already done what is needed for British tennis, which is ignite it. There's a person, there's a player that kids want to be like.

With Venus and Serena and their ascension - and you had a lot of kids that saw them and wanted to be like them - it's like any sport, any major athlete, like Michael Jordan in basketball: everybody wanted to be like Mike.

When I'm doing sports, I always think of how it's related to singing, and when I watch tennis, I learn a lot for my singing: how the players are focused, how they use their technique, and, in the case of Roger Federer, how effortless it is and how beautiful it is to watch - like bel canto, in a way. That's how singing should be.

What these guys are doing is great for Argentinean tennis. This is motivating other people.

When I first started really playing, in '98, I was super excited to see all the people I grew up watching. ... I loved Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, and Pete Sampras.

I love Agassi - I really followed him a lot when I was a teenager and remember when guys like him and Michael Chang were just unstoppable. He was really inspiring. Every match was so dramatic and exciting. The guy played with a lot of heart.

I would love to have been a tennis player simply because of Serena Williams.

I haven't been in tennis for that long, but what I can say is that we have a lot of young guys at the top who are willing to do a lot of good things for tennis in general.

But, I would say when I was four years old and I was at the Alan King Tennis Tournament and I was hitting with all the pros that would come to town. They would get me on the court or take notice and that stayed with me.

I did interviews with tennis greats, like James Blake and John Isner. I also interviewed tennis pros who aren't well - known but who made all the same sacrifices but had just a little spark of a professional career and are now still orbiting the sport, either as a teaching pro or a coach.

I really just try to enjoy the game and hope that I can inspire young kids. I started playing tennis because of Monica Seles, and I try to promote the sport in the best possible way. Sometimes it's hard because you get upset on court, but I think in life one learns through experiences in order to evolve as a person.

I want young kids to play tennis because of me.

I just could never have imagined that I would be mentioned with Chris Evert or with Martina Navratilova, because I was just a kid with a dream and a racquet. Living in Compton, you know, this never happened before.

Tennis has given me so many opportunities, and I feel very lucky to have achieved whatever I have, especially coming from a country that does not have a great history in the game.

It's funny because, growing up, I found inspiration from watching Steffi Graf and Amanda Coetzer, a South African who was in the top 10 for many years. Oh, and then there's someone I've gotten to know over the last few years: Martina Navratilova.

I'm making a lot of songs that are tennis-inspired.