I was a very good tennis player in Ottawa, Canada - nationally ranked when I was, like, 13. Then I moved to Los Angeles when I was 15, and everyone in L.A. just killed me. I was pretty great in Canada. Not so much in Los Angeles.
I'm a big fan of the 'Rocky' series. Given the chance, I'd love to meet Sylvester Stallone. But apart from boxing, I'm an ardent fan of tennis and football.
All you have to do is drive by the empty tennis courts and basketball courts and compare them to the skate parks... c'mon people, get with the program - the future is now!
I had a great tennis career. I have no regrets. But to find peace with yourself, and to finally be with your family - I'm probably the happiest guy in the world.
During high school, I would purposely lose tennis and squash matches to escape the agony of anxiety that competitive situations would provoke in me.
As tempting as it seems to wear tennis shoes with your tux, don't do it. I think it looks ridiculous. If you're 14 years old, maybe give it a shot. In general, don't portray anything that says 'I'm too cool and I don't care.'
I was being groomed to be a tennis player for sure. My grandparents and parents realised I had a natural athletic ability and if I was forced to do it, I could probably do well. But all I wanted was to play pretend.
I was always following my brothers. If my brothers hadn't played, I never would have picked up a racket. Tennis isn't the most popular sport in Venezuela.
Since I retired, I very much enjoy watching Serena Williams play. While I was playing, she was one of the toughest players I ever faced. Her ground strokes are so solid, her serve is one of the most powerful in women's tennis, and mentally she is just so strong.
I'm not a team sports person type person, so I probably would have been good at tennis, because I like tennis. But my parents really didn't push me. I think if my parents would have guided me and stay committed, I could have played any sport I wanted to, but I never did.
It's crazy how it is. I mean, I go from being not known to, you know, being so known in the tennis world, in Canada in general.
When I've written episodes of 'Doctor Who', when it comes to the monster chasing somebody, it's the Doctor and the companion, running down the corridor, being chased by a guy with a stick and a tennis ball on the end. Whereas, when I see the rushes of 'Being Human', we're actually looking at the werewolf, and it just looks real.
When Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner travels to China to play table tennis, he is mobbed when he leaves his hotel as if he were a rock star walking around Manhattan or a soccer star walking around Europe.
Women have it better in tennis than any other sport, but you shouldn't push them to play more than they're capable of playing.
I think I'm realising that careers for tennis players are very short. On the women's side now, players are starting to peak later on, but the average age is about 31, 32 when you finish playing, so I want to make the most of it while I'm young, fit, and healthy. I don't want to waste any time.
I have a TV Soap Boomerang award, and I always start my year with the Australian Open tennis! Tennis, soccer, you name it.
I love playing tennis. To me this is not a workout, but a fun extracurricular activity I do with friends so it doesn't feel like I'm working out.
My parents paid me small amounts for cleaning my room or cleaning the dishes and stuff, but I never really had a real job before I started on my professional tennis career.
I'd love to open a tennis school for children in my hometown of Sochi.
I enjoy horse riding, tennis, yoga and running - it helps to clear my head, and I can do bits of yoga in between filming.
I love to play tennis. I play a lot in the summer. I'm not a big golfer; I need something a bit more intense.
I started playing street hockey, but there were tennis courts near my house, and it was my father who suggested I try. I don't really know why.
I think it is easier for thinner people to build on a frame once you get lean muscle. I get bored lifting weights at the gym, and it isn't enough as your body becomes stiff. So I train in different ways such as core training, cardio with weights, playing sports such as tennis, cycling, swimming and running 10 km once a week.
Stress is part of your career. You have to accept it and deal with it because there is a lot of emotion in tennis.
The most challenging thing is people do see me as a tennis player, but I've had a lot of opportunities because I am a tennis player. And I don't mind that.
In tennis, a lot of parents are accused of driving their kids into tennis. I would say I'm the opposite: I drove my parents into it. They didn't take it that seriously until I was about 11 or 12 years old, when they realised I had an opportunity to go pro.
I think the tennis is only a game. You can lose. You can win. After that? In life, there are much more important things than tennis.
You don't just have to be skilled and talented at tennis, but you have to be so physically strong.
I spent about five years stuck in a room between the ages of 16 and 20 while I wrote the first book, which came out when I was 21. I should have been out playing tennis.
I can't play bridge. I don't play tennis. All those things that people learn, and I admire, there hasn't seemed time for. But what there is time for is looking out the window.
I know my serve stinks, but I was a pretty good tennis player.
When I came to Spain, I joined a tennis academy, and that was where I learnt the game.
I think all tennis players have to struggle through the early stages of their career. We start off playing tournaments and really just get by. I always had a dream to play in the big tournaments and never have doubted if it was worth it. Having to battle a little early on in my career makes it all the more worthwhile now.
I was a tennis player in high school and college.
Team sports, there's always some kind of sacrifice happening... A team, if we lose, if Michael Jordan has a bad night, you hang it on him a little bit... but if you lose as a tennis player, you have no one to blame but yourself, and that's a different beast.
This is a dream from when I was kid. I'm playing tennis almost 18 years, and of course everybody's dream is to play the final of a Grand Slam.
