“I am a sucker for those old traditional places, and Rome is as good as it gets, particularly when you throw in Italian food.”

One should just be able to play a perfect game.

I never waited 27 years, because 27 years ago I was just born. My parents never told me, ‘If you don’t win Roland Garros we take you to the orphanage.

The one thing you can do for sure is push the luck on your side.

You can be stubborn and successful or you can give it up a bit and change things around. For me it’s important to have a bit of both.

I’m not the kind of guy who wakes up angry.

My game is a lot about footwork. If I move well, I play well.

My family is the thing I miss most on the tour.

I always knew I had something special.

Confidence? Are you kidding me? I mean, please. Look, some players grow up and play like that. I remember losing junior matches. Just being down 5-2 in the third, and they all just start slapping shots.

It is always in my mind still that I can crush anybody. That’s not an issue. But I think that is the same for most athletes. If you don’t believe you can win tournaments anymore, then you can’t do it.

You always want to win. That is why you play tennis, because you love the sport and try to be the best you can at it.

I always had the dream that, once I became No 1 in the world, that if I had a child I hoped I would have it early enough so the child can see me playing.

I have a very strong opinion. I’m absolutely against it. I’m against the challenge system. I’m for the way it is right now. Don’t change that.

I have learnt to be even more patient.

I am thinking more and more about what I want to and can do after my days as an active athlete. Thoughts like family and marriage also cross my mind more and more often.

One or two years ago, I didn’t know who I was on court and I used to swear a lot. But now I’ve learned how to cope and can therefore win 10 matches in a row. I want to be remembered as a good player rather than an idiot on court.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

Only hire people you want to have dinner with.

I got my computer. The great thing about the computer is that you only need enough money to buy a computer and some food, and you’re all right. I don’t have to go to premières.

Sugar free? With the name Sugarpova I don’t think I will be doing anything sugar free very soon.

To me, my recipes are priceless.

The food I’ve liked in my time is American country cookin’.

There’s a lot more future in hamburgers than in baseball.

A lot of learned men think people really are the food they’ve eaten.