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.

Those companies that don't see the black and brown communities are missing, out of their closed eye, talent, which leads to money and growth. When baseball, football and basketball couldn't see the field, they missed talent and growth. The same is true in the tech industry.

The game of football has changed for me. It was a personal goal for me at first. But now it's a way to provide for my family. It's a way to provide for my daughter. I'm just ecstatic that I can do that.

Politics is always a difficult thing to talk about because, like football, the views are radical. You think this way; that guy thinks the opposite way. It is, like, nearly a fight, and feelings are very strong.

It's good that I put my personal ego aside. My basketball ego was, 'Why we negotiating?' But my personal ego didn't take it personal. I put my personal ego aside a little bit.