Boris Becker

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.

[Roger Federer] We have a guy from Switzerland who is just playing the game in a way I haven’t seen anyone – and I mean anyone – play before. How fortunate we are to be able to see that. If he stays healthy and motivated – and the wonderful feel he has stays with him – he is the kind of guy who can overtake the greatest.

The boys are so powerful off of the baseline now that they don’t have to come to the net to finish points. That’s the reason we went to the net. To finish the point. Nowadays, even the big guys can hit winners four feet behind the baseline.

I’m a different man now. I’m still a romantic, I still believe in love, but when I met Barbara I was looking for it. Now, I don’t know.

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

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.

If I am not playing at one hundred percent, it is going to be very difficult for me to win.

In the second, I told myself just to hold my serve and try and be aggressive on his serve, and hopefully get a break. I also applied more topspin on my forehand. Once I won the second game after being 0-30 down, my confidence also went up.

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

The first match is never easy. To play three sets with some important moments, that’s important for the confidence.

It is important to recognize the small successes.

For sure, with golf it’s not a physically demanding sport like tennis. That’s what makes tennis great – you combine both things. It’s a very mental sport and at the same time can be dramatically physical. But I do admire the mentality of sport more than the physicality because physical performance is much easier to practice than mental performance.

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

The only way of finding a solution is to fight back, to move, to run, and to control that pressure.

It’s not that difficult to play well and win titles in a team like Barcelona, but it’s in the national side where you see a player’s true class. That was the case with figures like Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane. With Spain, Iniesta has shown that he is among the best players of all time and that’s why I rate him higher than Messi or Ronaldo. Even though the latter two have incredible scoring records for their clubs, they still haven’t won anything with Argentina or Portugal respectively.

It’s important for the young players to practice other ball games as well, basketball or table tennis. On the tennis court, you can improve your eye through a kind of overexertion.

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.

Because, to give a goal, the ball must be 100% in and he must be 100% sure that the ball is in.

I’m not the best player in the history of tennis. I think I’m amongst the best. That’s true. That’s enough for me.

I always work with a goal – and the goal is to improve as a player and a person. That, finally, is the most important thing of all.

I admire a lot of people, but in terms of sport I’ve always loved the mentality of Tiger Woods on a golf course. I always love his eyes when he’s setting himself and focusing on his decision; he has a really strong, focused face and believes that he can make the shot.