There's a lot of ingredients go into being a good tennis player.
I'm a massive Roger Federer fan, and sometimes I can see in his game the willful development of a tactic or technique that doesn't come as naturally to him, like fixating on improving the backhand. And I'm thinking, Hit the forehand! It's what you do!
My father loved the single-handed backhand, so to him, that was the main goal; we were always fascinated by that shot. He taught me all the technique and how to structure my game. I was really privileged to have a father like that.
He's a haircut and a forehand.
Since I was little, I've watched Roger play on TV. To me, he plays almost perfect tennis. His technique is perfect. I also like him at the human level; he's a very good person on and off the court.
It takes years of practice to become a World No. 1 or 2.
My serve and my forehand I pretty much always had, but my backhand was a made backhand. I worked on it for years.
I wish I could play like Roger Federer.
Basically I started playing double handed on both my forehand and backhand side because my first racket was very heavy.
A bad toss is one of the most common causes of a bad serve, and most tosses are bad because players release the ball too soon, flick their wrists, or both.
Tennis is one of the only sports in America where the sport doesn't grow with the size of the person - it just forces you to swallow the whole pill.
Yes, I hit with heavy top-spin, but when you look at the little rackets I played with, the Maxply Dunlop, you had to hit the very centre all the time. I had my share of miss-hits.
Later, I discovered there was a lot of work to being good in tennis.
I'm a decent tennis player. Good backhand.
There is no such thing as bad luck in tennis. Just bad technique.
The one-handed backhand helps you to be more aggressive in the points.
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.
I wasn't any good at playing tennis.
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.
I love the feel of hitting the ball hard, the pleasure of a rally. It is these things that make tennis the delightful game that it is.
Maybe I have to work a bit harder on clay. It's a challenge and I've always liked challenges. Whether I will ever win the French and master playing on clay, who knows? But I'll give it a shot.
I've been around tennis, and I have a feeling for the sport. I still play tennis, and I can still do a lot of harm to a lot of people.
Slowly from just touching the ball I got to making the ball and eventually hitting a decent defensive shot. Because I don't have a lot of weapons I have to use my speed.
Well, I like to - the game of serve and volley, but it's very tough, you know, against the best players because they return so good and their passing shots are really good. So it's really tough to get there with those players.
I don't know much about Mauresmo apart from the fact she played great tennis. Is she a good technician? I don't know those parameters.
