I think in my case winning fans came as a result of winning tournaments. Certainly, I didn't have too many supporters when I came on Tour. I didn't look like an athlete, I was overweight, had a crew cut, baggy clothes and on top of that I didn't smile much. I was very serious about my game, literally and figuratively the heavy.
Chris (Moneymaker) winning that tournament has made the rest of us a lot of money.
My family vacations were softball tournaments.
I've stayed calm when I'm winning and I've stayed calm when I've lost. Tennis is a sport where we have a lot of tournaments every week, so you can't celebrate a lot when you have big victories, and you cannot get too down when you're losing, as in a few days you'll be in the next tournament and you'll have to be ready with that.
If luck weren't involved, I'd win every tournament!
The best tournament that I have ever played in was in 1950. It was great - a waiter came to you during the game, and you could order anything you wanted to drink (even some vodka, if you liked). Pity, there are no longer tournaments organized in this manner.
My first assistant-coaching job in football was at William & Mary in 1961. The pay wasn't much, so to get $300 more per year, I agreed to coach the golf team. I didn't even know how to keep score, and really, my main job was not to wreck the van on the way to tournaments.
There should be more of an off-season in the game. I think you need to have less tournaments, more of a break at the end of the year so guys can recover.
Sometimes you lose some tournaments you should win and you win some you should lose.
I can accomplish all those. It's really awkward, kind of, for me coming out here and being in a competitive golf atmosphere. I don't get to do it but once a year, except my, like, local tournaments back home in Oakland.
Nowadays tournaments are for nurseries. Look at those kiddies.
When I first came on tour, I was playing for money. Now I'm playing to win golf tournaments and the money is more than I ever dreamed I could make.
I can't ever remember anyone winning a tournament like that.
It was a tough year for me, '89, losing two Slam finals and losing another five finals. It wasn't until I won the Masters, or what's now called the ATP Finals, that things changed again. Suddenly I won seven tournaments in 1990 and became No. 1.
The problem is not the claycourt. The problem is, you know, rather something to do with the conditions on center court. Because I've played well on Suzanne Lenglen, on the other courts. But the Chatrier court is really, really big, and I just haven't had enough play on it. Maybe I come here next year and play a week on this court, if I can, if the French Federation lets me. We'll see. I've been playing well in other tournaments, in Davis Cup on clay. So for me it's not the surface, it's rather maybe the court.
I'm content. I want to have better success in the tournaments than I've had, but I know I'm playing well, so I'm happy with that.
The most important thing to me is winning tournaments. I love winning.
I don't go thinking I'm going to lose. I never go into a tournament thinking that. I'll do the best that I can.
Sometimes at lectures I am asked: how would the champions of the last century play today? I think that, after making a hurried study of modern openings, and watching one or two tournaments, the champions of the last century, and indeed the century before that, would very quickly occupy the same place that they occupied when they were alive.
To be involved in a senior tournament back in the States is very satisfying.
