Boris Becker

I can’t change history, I don’t want to change history. I can only change the future. I’m working on that.

I had the pleasure of competing at the Olympic Games and at Wimbledon and was fortunate enough to win the gold medal in both events,

I believed in raising my children as I had been raised.

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

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.

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

[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.

It should not be a child’s only goal to become the best player in the world. That would be a bad, a harmful attitude.

I became a player who goes to a lot of effort while training, who can rely on his will and his mental strengths.

You fight, you try your best, but if you lose, you dont have to break five racquets and smash up the locker room. You can do those things, but when youve finished, nothings changed. Youve still lost. If something positive came from that, I probably would do it. But I see only negativity.

It is no longer enough to play very well. You need to be able to give an answer at all times and everywhere. You cannot hide. This has something to do with maturity, and that is something you only acquire over the years.

Money plays an important role in football but it is not the dominating factor. When Chelsea play a Carling Cup game in a small city and it could result in a draw – the excitement, the spirit, the atmosphere – that’s the real beauty of football in England.

I appreciate a lot in this life; the things you cannot buy. Life is only once.

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.

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.

The philosophy of FIFA is to expand world soccer space, to spread out the world football space.

Anyone could become a star, but everyone must be a human being.

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

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.

I am afraid of a lot of things. A dog. I could be afraid of a dog that’s upset, for example. And on the tennis courts, maybe on the outside I look fearless, but on the inside, I’m scared. There’s not one player in the world who isn’t nervous before matches. Especially important matches.

Sport has the power to change the world.