I started when I was 8 years old, which is obviously nowadays pretty late, but I guess in my generation it was all right. I had plenty of other interests and I didn't do only tennis.

Seems like most of the kids today are into other sports other than tennis.

I think no matter what you do you go through stages when you play. There was a number of times when I didn't do very well or was tired. It was too much to combine school and tennis altogether. Parents need to step in and say, take a little time off, do something fun.

I think it was the right time for me to retire because nowadays tennis is too incredibly fast and you can say that my style tennis went out of fashion.

Any athlete has massive reserves in their body and their emotional landscape.

If your quarterback wants a deflated football, your soccer-style kicker is going to want it kind of full. If your quarterback wants it really full, your straight-on kicker is going to want less air in it. It's a regulation football; let them use it however they want to. You use your own ball.

Because I love football and I love the footballers.

I'm the youngest of eight kids in my family. All tall, we all played basketball, so at my earliest memory, I was bouncing a ball in the backyard.