Boris Becker

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

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

When you are thrown onto the stage at 17 in such an enormous way, it becomes living on the edge because every step you take, every word you speak, every action you do becomes headline news. And it became, for me, life or death.

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 know what it’s like to be married and to live in a house with a garden, but it’s not something I’m striving for at the moment.

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

I learned during all my career to enjoy suffering.

That’s the hard part about sport: as men we haven’t started to be in our prime, but as athletes we are old people. I needed support. I lost trust and did stupid things.

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

You know, a lot of things changed. What never changed is the illusion to keep playing tennis, the illusion to keep doing well the things, and the illusion to be in a good position of the ranking and play these kind of matches.

I know my serve stinks, but I was a pretty good tennis player.

The guy comes up to the plate, there’s always a chance where he can get a grand slam and everybody forgets about all the times he missed.

I have no sense of humor about losing

With Almagro, boy, that’ll be a tough match. He’s playing at a very high level right now and he hits the ball hard.

I am very lucky because when I come back home, I have a completely normal life. I can relax, playing golf, fishing – doing what I want. I know when I finish a tournament, I am going to relax at home.

Winning is a way of expressing yourself.

I don’t really care what the man on the street thinks. I never did anything to please him in the first place, and I’m not going to start now.

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

No one is perfect. Everybody does stupid things.

All sports are continuously developing, but what they all have in common is that the speed is increasing. That’s also true of tennis; the ball is getting faster and faster.

We’ll try and be very aggressive, we’ll try and speed up and change gears, and we’ll see who’s going to win.