The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.
Martina Navratilova
Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone.
Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.
The tennis ball doesn't know how old I am. The ball doesn't know if I'm a man or a woman or if I come from a communist country or not. Sport has always broken down these barriers.
The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are their worst.
Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people.
The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else.
It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't.
I've always been a rebel, always curious about the world around me.
Russia is now very far from being a communist country, but when I walked around Moscow, I kept glimpsing these haunting images. There were statues of Lenin and some neon signs of the hammer and sickle. I remembered myself then as a little girl, living under that oppression.
I just try to concentrate on concentrating.
I think the key is for women not to set any limits.
The more people come out, the less it will be an issue.
Goodbye 2010. If you were a fish, I'd throw you back.
Playing tennis, I didn't tie in my self-worth into winning or losing matches.
Just go out there and do what you have to do.
I've a great family, two children to take care of. Then, of course, I do commentary for TV. I do speak about various women's issues around the world - like LGBT, motivational speeches. I have a lot on my plate right now. But eventually, yes, I would like to pass on the knowledge and something that I would like to do.
Life is about challenges and how we face up to them and the attitude we take into every day life so hopefully we'll be able to motivate people to do more with their life.
I think we will have full marriage rights in Colorado. But in 1992, there was a very hateful Amendment 2 that basically made it legal for any institution to deny gays and lesbians access, whether it's hospitals or restaurants or employment. Anybody could fire you or not let you in a restaurant because you were gay.
There was a joke in Czechoslovakia: The Communist Party dance, it's one step forward, two steps backward, and everyone is still clapping.
Gender is irrelevant. Certainly the tennis ball doesn't know what the gender was of the tennis coach.
I shouldn't say I'm looking forward to leading a normal life, because I don't know what normal is.
My mom told me to cover up my arms ever since I was little because I was muscular. She wanted me to be feminine, which did not come easy to me. My body was what it was, and I worked it to be a better tennis player.
Just by being out you're doing your part. It's like recycling. You're doing your part for the environment if you recycle; you're doing your part for the gay movement if you're out.
When I reached America, there was so much space and colour. The possibilities seemed endless. At least that's how I felt at 18. But of course, I didn't have to take the usual immigrant route of battling to find a job and a home in a strange country. I could play tennis. I spoke the language, and I was making money. It was easy, really.
You can't live in the past, there's nothing you can do about it.
My life is very well managed. I have a lot on my plate, and at the same time, there were still holes, and what I do and where I am dovetails nicely with what Agnieszka needs. I don't think I could be a coach for a Madison Keys because she needs somebody more hands-on. But Agnieszka is almost a finished product.
I think men are more adventurous in that they're more likely to take chances. Women play it safe. But now, maybe more of the women that see how it's working for the guys think, 'I can do that, too'. Maybe they'll pick male players, not necessarily female players; it's just whatever that match is that works for that player.
I was political by coming out of the womb. I was gay, and I wanted to play tennis.
Variety is what I would recommend: As variety is the spice of life in food, so it is in exercise. Change it up. But most of all, don't overdo it.
Tennis has given me soul.
I am just sorry my own mother had to live under that regime for most of her life. I was lucky. I got out and, 14 years later, Czechoslovakia became a free country. So I feel anger, even fury, at this bloody system that ruined so many people's lives for no reason whatsoever.
After I retired, I was in Aspen, and after two months of being at home, I started to go nuts. I needed to go somewhere because that was the longest I never travelled.
Tennis is the purest form of democracy. There was a symbiotic, chicken-and-egg relationship for me between democracy and tennis.
My worst memory is of my first dance lesson as a 14-year old in Prague. My mother put me in this silver and pink lame dress. My hair was all curled, and it was the first time I wore a garter belt. I felt so out of place!
I do get pissed off when I'm at some gay event, and there's a 25-year-old, and he has no idea who I am. And I say, 'You need to know more about your gay history, boy.' I think the younger generation takes it a little bit for granted.
I've been active in animal rights and all kinds of environmental stuff and children's charities over the years.
Julia, I promise to love you, to cherish you, in sickness and in health. No matter what, I will be there for you and our family. I promise not to make the social media another member of our family.
I've been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.
I've given many lessons in many sports over the years to many different people.
I can teach many sports, but obviously, tennis is the one. When you do other sports, you see things from different perspectives: different footwork drills, body positions, angles and geometry. All that stuff is helpful, and so when I do other sports, I can see things, because once you know one sport, then the other sport becomes more clear.
I hope, when I stop, people will think that somehow I mattered.
Sure I know where the press room is - I just look for where they throw the dog meat.
People in the States used to think that if girls were good at sports their sexuality would be affected.
If I feel strongly, I say it. I know I can do more good by being vocal than by staying quiet. I'd have a whole lot more money if I lied, but I wouldn't enjoy spending it.
The goal for the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation is to give kids an opportunity to be involved in sports and hopefully learn some lessons along the way. We want to put them in a safe environment, help them if they need it and maybe they will get a scholarship to a school because of the skills that they learn. Sport is just a starting point.
Sport doesn't know barriers, really. You are judged on your performance... how far you can jump, how fast you can run, how well you can hit a tennis ball.
Players are saying, 'I don't have to have a coach who has only played a little bit. Instead, I can have somebody who won something'.
You can have a coach for five or six years, and eventually, that coach has so little new to say. So get somebody else to give a different point of view. Somebody will see something I don't see and vice versa. You evolve with your game and your coaches.
If a man can coach a female, why can't a female coach a male? When I was looking for a coach, the gender of the coach never occurred to me. It was about who I thought was good and who I could get along with and listen to.
