Boris Becker

I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I Love to play.

Girls are a distraction and can easily cost points.

Before, I wouldn’t have sacrificed anything for tennis but when I met Barbara it was different. I would have sacrificed tennis for Barbara.

I haven’t lost a war. No one got killed. I just lost a tennis match.

An autobiography is not about pictures; it’s about the stories; it’s about honesty and as much truth as you can tell without coming too close to other people’s privacy.

The eyes of some of the fans at Davis Cup matches scare me. There’s no light in them. Fixed emotions. Blind worship. Horror. It makes me think of what happened to us long ago.

I started to travel like this at the age of 15 so for me, it’s normal. Some days you get tired and you feel, ‘I want to stay at home a little bit more,’ but it’s only the moment.

What distinguishes tennis is respect for one’s opponent, one’s conduct on the court.

I still take advice from my mum on what clothes look good on me. I used to listen to her a lot more, but I’ve started to choose my own things from time to time.

The fifth set is not about tennis, it’s about nerves.

However great your dedication, you never win anything on your own

I’ve stayed calm when I’m winning and I’ve stayed calm when I’ve lost. Tennis is a sport where we have a lot of tournaments every week, so you can’t celebrate a lot when you have big victories, and you cannot get too down when you’re losing, as in a few days you’ll be in the next tournament and you’ll have to be ready with that.

We should try to teach the young people values that are useful to them whether they become professional athletes or not.

I have no sense of humor about losing

Every year I go to Broadway to see a musical – I like the music. I saw ‘Mamma Mia;’ I saw ‘Les Miserables;’ I saw ‘Phantom of the Opera’ like six, seven times.

You just try to play tough and focus point for point. Sounds so boring, but it’s the right thing to do out there.

Every little kid that steps on the court or the field has aspirations to go pro. I think being a pro basketball player is the best job. The thing I had to realize was that I can’t do every dream that I have.

For me, pressure is bird flu. I’m feeling a lot of pressure with the problem in Scotland. It’s not fun and I’m more scared of it than football.

I have a lot of respect for Liverpool fans and what I did, the sign of silence – ‘shut your mouth’ – was not for them, it was for the English press.

You fight, you try your best, but if you lose, you don’t have to break five racquets and smash up the locker room. You can do those things, but when you’ve finished, nothing’s changed. You’ve still lost. If something positive came from that, I probably would do it. But I see only negativity.

It was a very unbelievable day for me. It’s special to begin the clay season like this. Beating Roger in the final is even more special, it’s great.