Goran Ivanisevic Quotations

At her birthday, my seven-year-old daughter will say that she wants these big cakes and certain expensive toys as presents, and I can't say no to her. It would just break my heart. But when I was little, for birthdays we just played outside and we were happy if we got any cake.

My sporting hero was Drazen Petrovic, the NBA basketball player, who was killed in a car accident in 1993. He was a good friend, an unbelievable player, and I dedicated my Wimbledon win to him.

As soon as I step on the court I just try to play tennis and don't find excuses. You know, I just lost because I lost, not because my arm was sore.

While I didn't have everything that I wanted, I was still a happy kid.

Although we didn't have much when I was growing up in Split, Croatia, my parents always tried to ensure that my sister and I had the things we needed, and it was enough for us.

I must be the only player in the world who ever injured himself for a tournament by stepping on a shell on the beach. I don't know what I'm going to do.

You can't slow the game here. It's grass, it's always going to be fast.

If you are given a lot of money without having to work for it, you won't appreciate it as much as if you made it yourself.

It's easier when you play. You get your emotion out. You scream. You yell. You do whatever you want. You play. But it's tough to sit.

Since retiring I have spent a lot of time with my family, on my boat, and playing football.

There are not many Irish people playing tennis!

It's fun to be there with the guys, to practice with them, arrange the balls, do this, do that, but when you play you can get some of this nervousness out of your system.

I think I owe it to myself and my fans in Britain to play one more Wimbledon.

The best book I read this year was 'The Da Vinci Code.'

Winning Wimbledon was a great feeling and it is still a great feeling. It has given me so much confidence.

Of course, I really wish I was out there playing,

I believe we will carry on with good results after this sensational triumph. It is now up to us to break with a tradition that Davis Cup winners almost regularly lose in the first round the following season.

He is strong in the head. You can't win a junior Grand Slam and knock out the world's No. 25 player in your first senior tournament if you're not strong in the head.

I will not sleep on it, I will not change it.

It is certain that I will not lead the Davis Cup team in 2006 but it is also certain that one day I will be its captain.

whether as an assistant coach, a player or even ball boy.

As things stand now, it is likely that I will take over.

This is the biggest achievement this team has had in its history, so for sure we want to go even further,

It meant a lot to me that Marin experienced such a match in front of packed stands. It was a good lesson and he can improve himself.

It's going to be very tough walking to the net for the last time. That will be it after 15 years. No more professional tennis. I don't know what kind of emotions are going to go through my head. It will be interesting.

It's going to be much easier for me this time than in the quarter-finals because that was the first time I played (in front of these fans)...I didn't know what to expect from that situation. Hopefully, I'll play better this time.

It's over. Perhaps for good, perhaps for the next 10 years. This is my final decision. I will not sleep on it, I will not change it.

I hope that we will break up that infamous tradition that a Davis Cup winner is defeated already in the first round the next season.

If she only wakes up five times in a night, it's like I've won the lottery. I'm awake at night and asleep during the day. I haven't found a way to keep her asleep. I tried yelling, but if I yell it gets even worse, she starts to cry and scream even more

I played on the Champions Tour all year, I qualified for the Masters and I would have loved to have played at the Royal Albert Hall because I heard that it has an unbelievable atmosphere and I think I had a real chance to win it,

I played bad and good, ... I served good, but I returned very bad. He's not a big server, but I saw that statistics and from 90 points, I won 20 on his serve. So that was the key to the match.

I didn't even have fun to break anything today. That's how I felt, you know. Today's such a day when, you know... Even if somebody told me, 'Break,' I wouldn't break. You just... But I don't know. With me, anything is possible. When I come on the court, you know, anything happens. So they always expect something, something is gonna happen. But today, nothing happen. Today was show but no actors in the show, you know. Disappointing.

Every generation has its own Goran. So I was the Goran of this generation.

My fines? I pay more fines than some guys' career prize money on the tour.

Actually, I tossed it nicely, landed nicely, like airplane. No warning, beautiful. That's the art of throwing racquets.

When I won Wimbledon, I said to God: just let me win this one tournament and I won't play another match. Maybe God's telling me to go home, but I don't want to go home. We are negotiating at the moment.

If I can't serve on grass, I can maybe help cut the grass, paint the lines and serve some strawberries.

With me, you never know what is going to happen

When I started in my career, my sister was very sick so I play for her because we didn't have money.

My tattoo is a cross, a rose and a shark. A cross is a cross, a rose like love and a shark is a pretty tough animal.

Lately, my mind is like an orchestra. If you don't have the conductor, you don't know what to do. One guy is playing jazz, one guy is playing rock and roll, another classical. It's a big mess.

When you are winning too much, sometimes you think you should never lose again. I am learning to lose.

It's great, but there is one problem. She doesn't sleep. At night she seems to turn into a vampire. She wakes up every night five or 10 times, asking for things, singing, calling out.

I just try to play tennis and don't find excuses. You know, I just lost because I lost, not because my arm was sore.

After I won a match at a tournament I tried to repeat everything I did the day I won. Before my next match, I ate the same food, I went to the same restaurant etc. Sometimes it got very boring.

Its fun to be there with the guys, to practice with them, arrange the balls, do this, do that, but when you play you can get some of this nervousness out of your system.

I have so many runner-up cups that I am thinking of starting my own tea shop.

I still break racquets, but now I do it in a positive way.

Ivan Lendl's never going to be a great player on grass. The only time he comes to the net is to shake your hand.

I don't care now if I ever win a match in my life again. Whatever I do in my life, wherever I go, I'm going to be always Wimbledon champion.

The trouble with me is that every match I play against five opponents: umpire, crowd, ball boys, court, and myself.