Boris Becker

How do you build a relationship when you’ve hardly shared a word but suddenly share a child? How do you love a daughter you don’t see for nearly two years? When does she become your daughter? How does she become your daughter?

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

I am thrilled to be the new team captain. I am sure that the pressures I’ve faced on centre court will stand me in good stead to battle it out against Ian and his team.

I want to be a hero, a small and good kind of hero, even though I know heroes have very short lives.

For a year, I had all sorts of weirdos coming on to me.

Where do you go when you’re the best in the world? What’s next?

I don’t think we are so ugly that we should be seen as the devil and I don’t think Arsene Wenger and David Dein are so beautiful that they should be viewed as angels.

I was in the tennis bubble. I wasn’t thinking about the big picture. I didn’t notice what they said on television, I wasn’t reading any papers. I had a coach and a manager, and they kept me in the bubble.

I’m lucky enough to do what I like for work – not everyone’s that fortunate.

For sure, I’m going to play less matches because I think it’s very difficult to win the same number of matches as last year. Maybe I’m going to play a little bit less, but I like playing tournaments; so if I feel good, I going to play for sure.

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

It’s important to have people around you with enough confidence to say if you are not acting in a good way. Normally, when you are at the top, people say everything is fantastic. Probably in that moment it is what you want to hear, but it’s best to be reminded how to act properly.

I have lived my whole life with high intensity.

Our strategy [at Chelsea] is to bring up our own players through the academy, which we have invested a lot in, and hope it gives results.

There are many moments during a match when you are tense, wrestling with yourself. Tennis is a lesson in self-control.

More than anything, believe that you can win.

Its silly to say it about a tennis player, but Im an unbelievable hero in Germany. And Germany needs heroes more than any place.

I always think about victory. It was very important for me to stay in this final. If I play my best I have a chance (against Federer). I’m going to play aggressively, with determination.

I play because I have fun, if I don’t have fun on the court, there is something wrong. I am just a 19 year old boy that likes to do what he likes, nothing else.

Sport has the power to change the world.

I only ever run when there’s some point to it – say, if it’s in a game of tennis.