I was watching tennis on TV, and between games, they were showing a commercial for a tennis school. I wrote down the number, gave it to my mom, and said, 'This is what I want to do.' She thought it was a joke, but I was very stubborn, and I kept bringing it up.

Ana Ivanovic

Trying to learn to be a good man is like learning to play tennis against a wall. You are only a good man - a competent, capable, interesting and lovable man - when you're doing it for, or with, other people.

A. A. Gill

I often speak about tennis being one of the most important sports when I was growing up, for my hand-eye coordination and quick feet.

AB de Villiers

I'm the Bjorn Boerg of table tennis.

Action Bronson

I play golf, but sometimes it's so un-relaxing, I have to play tennis to wind down. Now that I think about it, this process is sort of like when I go out for sushi and have to get a slice of pizza afterward.

Adam Ross

Players like Messi and Xavi are always hungry. Whatever the game or the competition - even if it is table-tennis - they want to win. We used to play two-touch football games after training and they would always be desperate to win. It taught you about life as well as football.

Adama Traore

My great grandfather from my father's side, Sir Akbar Hydari, was the prime minister of the Nizam of Hyderabad. He was instrumental in setting up the Osmania university. His wife set up the Hydari club for women so that they could play tennis, and she also set up the first girls' school in Hyderabad.

Aditi Rao Hydari

I used to play rugby, polo, tennis, and cricket in school. It was only in the 1990s, when I used to live just opposite Harrods in London, that I started putting on weight. I used to have my breakfast there every day.

Adnan Sami

In polo, you jump on a horse and you play. To play tennis, you have to train every day. It's your legs that do all the work. In polo, it's the horses' legs.

Adolfo Cambiaso

To me, anyone with an Australian accent wielding a tennis racket is cool.

Adrian Smith

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.

Agnieszka Radwanska

To me, acting is like tennis. You're only as good as the person you're playing with, so if you're playing with Michael C. Hall, what do you have to worry about?

Aimee Garcia

If I hadn't become a chef I would have loved to be a top tennis player, although I was never good enough so it wasn't really an option. But that has never dimmed my love of the game, which started in childhood when I was lucky enough to be a ball boy at Wimbledon.

Ainsley Harriott

We look for opportunities to play together including basketball, tennis, swimming, riding bikes and touch football. I try to provide a loving environment where we can play. I think that's good on so many levels - emotionally, for family interactions and, of course, physically.

Alan Thicke

I haven't seen the film yet because I just got in from London. In the scenes where the two characters are bantering with each other, it is like bobbing at the net in tennis.

Albert Finney

I've got my advanced scuba diving license. I'm playing tennis and exercising. I ride my bike everywhere. I've been finding new things. I've been more creative in music and doing different videos. And just meeting different people and being around and present. I'm wonderful when I'm just on nothing.

Albert Hammond, Jr.

Growing up not being the biggest guy around, you learn different ways of playing tennis. I've learned to adapt.

Alex de Minaur

Tennis is a tough sport - a long year, a lot of matches, a lot of travelling. It's not easy so being mentally tough is a big attribute. It doesn't come easy, you have to work on it.

Alex de Minaur

At the end of the day, it is a very long year. The tennis season is pretty much ten months of the year.

Alex de Minaur

And, honestly, tennis is such a tough sport as it is, it's only you on court, so you've got to deal with a lot of different pressures and expectations and when things aren't going well.

Alex de Minaur

In the '70s, Florida-style golf communities started to be built for America's baby-boomers who were doing well and taking up the game but couldn't get into exclusive golf and tennis clubs and were looking for a nice place to live and raise their families.

Alex Shoumatoff