There are a bunch of young players coming up and doing incredible stuff.

This is what I've always wanted to do. I've always wanted to be a professional tennis player.

I've played so many matches in my career so far where I played unbelievable, came up just short.

My academy did a great job of getting my story out there for people to hear about me, get interested and wanted to fund me.

I wasn't really a work-conscious type of person. I was a player. I loved to play sports.

Back in East St. Louis, tennis wasn't the real thing. If you weren't playing baseball, basketball, football, you were kind of on the outside.

I think you want to try every sport possible just to experience life.

I would have - I didn't really have to be an athlete. I could have been, you know - worked in fast food, been a janitor, anything. I would have had two or three jobs, working long hours, you know, to support myself and for my family in the future. I would have been successful.