Kevin Anderson

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.

Coming from a country that loves tennis, actually, there are a lot of people who play. We definitely face a lot of challenges when it comes to producing tennis players.

Growing up, I did quite a bit of reading on the mental side. My dad, who coached me, had us doing a lot of different types of mental work, like visualization. I read a couple of tennis books that talked about calming your nerves, belief, visualization, relaxing, breathing.

It started with my parents, my dad who taught me growing up, my brother who played as well. I spent a lot of time with him. Then, getting into the pro side, there have been a lot of people who have worked with me along the years.

Tennis is interesting. I feel, in terms of stats and stuff, maybe we're a little bit behind the curve, especially me just coming to the States and seeing stats used for, obviously, NFL, NBA, et cetera. Especially in baseball, there's stats galore.

There are so many positives and great memories I will take with me from Wimbledon 2018. It was always part of the dream to play in a Wimbledon final. It means so much for me to have played in the championship match.

I think a lot of success I have had in the past is I have been able to work points, find the right time to come forward.

Tennis is a big sport when it comes to betting. Obviously, we as a sport try incredibly hard to keep it clean, and I think we do a very good job with that.

2015 was obviously a great year. I achieved a few of my long-standing goals, which is very rewarding. I'm still working hard to achieve some of my other goals, like reaching the top 5 in the world rankings and qualifying for the World Tour Finals.

There haven't been that many players, both men and women, from South Africa breaking through on the pro level. It's not easy because you have to really start playing tennis at a young age and be exposed to the right competitions and other players from around the world.

The more mental strength you have, the better. If you look at some of the best players that we have seen over the years and that I have been playing with, mentally they are the best competitors as well, something I have worked hard on.

I try not to get too political. But coming from South Africa, where apartheid was a huge problem, and there was lots of inequality, has shaped me in terms of how I view certain issues.