Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
I love being able to pass from a feeling of euphoria to one of calm and serenity.
I'm a bit like a diesel engine, you know.
Stupidity cannot be controlled, only contained.
I love skateboarding and rollerblading, but I'm not really allowed to do it because of my tennis.
I've got a bit of the eccentricity of Africa and a bit of Western calm.
The court is where I can express something that I've got deep inside me.
You know, the girls, they are more unstable emotionally than us. I'm sure everybody will say it's true, even the girls.
My parents always taught me not to be a good tennis player or the best in what I'm doing, but to be polite.
When I fly, it takes me two, three days to recovery, to be good physically.
For me it is always fun to be on the court, and fight, and try to get every ball.
I'm not the most talented on the tour but I like to go to war.
I enjoy every time on the court.
I have a lot of respect for who beats me and that's it.
No, I'm not a bad loser.
You can see Bjorn Borg, but when I watch some game of him I want just to take a nap, no?
It's important to stay normal and live in the real world. I know this is where you find happiness.
My parents weren't rich at all.
One of my goals was to be in the top 100 - just once!
I hope I will have a family. A house, with a garden, will be nice. And I would love a barbecue! Just very simple things and a passion to work hard.
I've had good results on clay during my junior years and I enjoy playing on clay to the opposite of what many media can say.
Of course, I believe injury has stopped me winning more tournaments.
I like to play against Juan Monaco.
I would have liked to have been a pro firefighter.
I played soccer and could have probably made it to the top league.
I do a lot of conditionning in the off season with my coach but there a lot of exercise and they are specific to each individual.
Having a child changes your priorities. I am convinced, for me, it will be something very positive and give me even more motivation.
Sometimes you cannot do anything because the guy in front of you is playing well and he's doing the right things to make you play in a bad way.
Of course, I want to win a Grand Slam.
Yes, there are moments when it's frustrating where you can't put the ball where you want it and you make mistakes.
Sometimes you go through a few tournaments without having a five-setter.
I have been working on my backhand since I was the age of five. And it's a disaster, my backhand, so I'm working on it.
The most important for me, it's to fight, give my best on court until the last point.
Tennis runs in cycles. There are victories. There are disappointments.
I think the most important is to remain as stable and consistent as possible in terms of emotions, because when you're working, if you work well, you're always rewarded at some point.
I think Roger Rasheed is helping me to be more serious. Also, he can convey his passion for tennis. He loves the game. Also he's enthusiastic about everything, about tactics, about what is happening on the court, and also physically he's really pushing me. He wants me to do my best every day.
You need the life of a champion. It's always useful to have people around you who can help you doing that.
I decided to practice alone because it was a challenge for me to see how much I love tennis. And making sure I was not trying just to respond to other people's expectations and that I really wanted it myself. I realized that I just loved tennis, that it was something extraordinary, that I would really want to do that.
If you play tennis it is to have these moments, moments of adrenaline, where it gets dangerous. It is a bit masochistic.
My favourite dish is from Congo, the native country of my father. It's called Poulet a la Dakatine and is made from chicken, peanut butter and spinach.
Don't spend your time dreaming, live life now.
I travel so much that my idea of a good holiday is spending time at my home in Nyon, Switzerland.
Sometimes I play against a player who has a lot of support and I win.
It's not only what happens on the court that makes us the players we are; it's also everything that happens outside the court.
I have a bit two overlapping personalities. I have my African half that gives me the hot blood and the warmth and the exuberance, and then I have my French side, which is quite a bit more reserved. It's not always easy to reconcile the two.
When I need to get into details, I like French. But when I want to do something stronger, English is better. The swear words are stronger in English. And on the court, 'Allez!' is light. 'Come on!' That's strong.
It's something powerful to receive all this love. In the street. In Congo, everywhere. But it's also hellish at the same time. When all that comes at you from one day to the next, it's really destabilizing.
I don't need much to be happy.
Yannick, for me, is an example, an example for all the French players. We all want to taste ourselves what he was able to taste first.
In regular life, I'm somebody pretty simple, pretty calm.
When you have the ball above the net height on grass, it's easier to play, and when the ball comes at you more slowly, it's easier to play. But when a guy hits hard and deep, I think you have to have been out there playing to understand, but it's hard to really hit the ball.