I've never cared that much for cementing my place in history. Sports is so transitory, so ephemeral. It just seems like so much nonsense comparing me to Helen Wills Moody or Suzanne Lenglen or anybody else from some other time. One lesson you learn from sports is that life goes on without you.

Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.

A lot of sports, over the years, become a game. If you are into tennis, it becomes part of your lifestyle.

You've got to win in sports -- that's talent -- but you've also got to learn how to remind everybody how you did win, and how often. That comes with experience.

Sports are a microcosm of society.

In the complete overall history of tennis, I figure I'll be worth a sentence or two. . . . That's why my place in the all-time rankings means so very little to me, because I know I won't be anybody's number one, and it's that same old thing: if you're not number one, then what does it really matter?