Jim Courier
The reason I didn't take the baseball route is because they don't have rankings for baseball players.
It is very dangerous to have your self-worth riding on your results as an athlete.
Unbelievable, yet, what else could it be?
I really try not to read the tennis articles, because a lot of times they're guessing at how a player is feeling, and I like to keep myself kind of open minded about how I'm feeling, rather than have someone else explain to me what's going on.
Tennis doesn't encourage any kind of intellectual development.
The airplane has had a big impact on my life.
The dumber you are on court, the better you're going to play.
If they had rankings in baseball, maybe I would have been able to do the math and figure out my chances of being a professional baseball player versus a tennis player. But that was the decision-maker for me, I just thought I was better in tennis.
I think all of us are shaped by the choices we make.
I've been lucky enough to primarily work for myself over the years.
I think all of us who kind of live within the sport recognize that Davis Cup certainly could be a little more visible if perhaps there were some adjustments made to it, and it was made a little bit more easy to understand for the fans, if there's a little bit more of a start and finish line.
It's hard for anyone in the 24-hour news cycles that we all live in now to follow something that the first round is played in March and the final finishes in December. I understand the challenges there.
I will do everything in my power to make sure people are aware that our team is out there fighting the good fight for the tennis fans of the United States.
I think there's no reason the Davis Cup couldn't be as powerful and popular and profitable as any of the four majors are today, given some changes.
I knew I was the second-best tennis player in the state of Florida and No. 8 in the United States of America when I was 12 years old and I couldn't tell you what I was in baseball, but I liked my chances in tennis of getting a scholarship to college.
Sports for me is when a guy walks off the court, and you really can't tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way.Collection: Inspirational
It does take a great hunger to be successful at anything.Collection: Successful
Us going out there and performing our best. That's how I define success. I'm not going to define it for us by the wins and the losses as much as by the effort and how we handle ourselves.Collection: Loss
Even the poor can be fat in the U.S.Collection: Poor
There are things we can't control - like the wins and the losses.Collection: Loss
You have to be extreme to be exceptional. I couldn't revel in being number one. I had to get to zero. When my fitness was at its peak, I was intimidating. I made guys cave in. They'd be dejected in the locker room after matches, and I'd go out for a run, as if it wasn't enough. I'd rub it in their faces. I meant to do that.Collection: Softball
Fear is an interesting energy that we all have to face. Some people step up and aren't afraid but still come up short. And some would rather cop out: "My shoulder hurts" or "I didn't give it my all." They can sleep at night.Collection: Hurt
If I had to choose one man to play for my life, it would be Nadal.Collection: Men
People handle stress in different ways.Collection: Stress
Many books have been written about what the X-factor is, what separates people who win big matches versus those who struggle. Some of it's innate, but there's a piece of it that's learned, embracing those moments.Collection: Struggle
It's a simple question of supply and demand. But all of us are grossly overpaid. I think it's a ridiculous dispute.Collection: Simple
Focusing on one thing can be tough, and people with fewer options are more apt to concentrate on what they're doing. There's probably something to hunger.Collection: People
Hell be lucky to last five or six years on those knees. What it might have to come down to is playing less on hard surfaces and playing more on forgiving surfaces.Collection: Years
Tennis is more than just shots. It's about being clutch and beating the people on the other side of the net.Collection: People
The good news is I have time.Collection: News
If you don't want to practice, unless you have a hard-nosed coach, you don't have to.Collection: Practice
I am there to play tennis and represent the U.S., but I'm also aware that not everyone's going to be able to think that way.Collection: Thinking
We lose a lot of young athletes because tennis is such a difficult sport. It's not like kicking a soccer ball.Collection: Soccer
Tennis is still very successful in spite of itself.Collection: Successful
There is a lot of pressure on tennis players like other sports that are singular like you're not on a team. When all the pressure rides on your shoulders, it can be a lot different. Team sports you share those moments with the teammates. You share the pressures. You share the wins. You share the losses. You have a coach that can change the course of matches. But in tennis you're out there by yourself. There are no caddies. There are no coaches. You do it alone in the arena and I think that ups the ante a little bit.Collection: Sports
You can look directly at the NFL and see how successful they've become because they have central control, central voice, and it doesn't mean that the owners don't have a say, but the commissioner runs it, and he's the one who speaks for them when they go out and do commercial deals.Collection: Running
You need to look to make a cohesive calendar that makes sense and helps elongate the careers of your players as opposed to shorten them inadvertently.Collection: Player
When you lack cohesion, it becomes difficult to have a clear marketing strategy.Collection: Marketing
When your four biggest tournaments all operate relatively independently, and the ATP and WTA tour operate independently, and you have Davis Cup and Fed Cup that operate independently, it makes it a tough message.Collection: Four
Getting to number one in the world without a coach is highly unlikely.Collection: Numbers
What I've seen historically is winning is a major aloe. It solves a lot of problems.Collection: Winning
In America, we love to give people second chances too - as long as you admit you were wrong and come back and do it the right way.Collection: Second Chance
The first thing I would do is create one office that controlled all of pro tennis so you had one central voice that spoke for tennis. Central governance is something that's really held the sport back and will continue to do so.Collection: Sports
When I turned professional, what I was really aiming for was to be in the top 100, try to hold the top 100 for ten years, and just be in the show, and have a nice career. It's more than I could have ever hoped for. I worked awfully hard for it, but there are other people who worked just as hard and didn't get the breaks. I recognized that I've been lucky and being able to live this life that I wanted since a young age. I really went after it with everything that I have and somehow it worked out.Collection: Nice
Trophies separate the winners from losers, and life is about winning and losing. Go into business and you see. You're competing every day.Collection: Winning
What separates the winners from the losers is that they can deal with doing their best while still coming up short.Collection: Loser
Flying has opened up new horizons for tennis.Collection: Tennis
There's a reason why Federer and Nadal are so gracious when they lose. They sleep well at night knowing that they've given their best.Collection: Sleep
You'd have to think that if he'd been around today, Rod Laver would have been Rod Laver.Collection: Thinking
One of Nadal’s strengths is that he’s so humble, that he’s surprised at what he has achieved, and that he has never bought into his greatness.Collection: Humble