I'm still number one and I just recently won a major tournament ahead of my toughest rivals so I think I had a few years ahead of me if I decided to stay.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I went seven years between 2002 and 2009 without winning. Then I did win in '09.
If I ever leave, it'll be after winning a championship. You need to go out on a high so that people remember you for the right reasons.
Most people are fortunate enough to stay two, three years in this game. I've been in it for seven years, and I feel like now, I'm just beginning.
I just felt all along that if I could get a certain amount of years in the league, have great years and still have my health when I walked away, that would be great.
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.
I made my debut on October 10, 2008, so it'll be seven years to the day that I could become world champion. That's a massive night to be crowned.
I became number one just after the World Championships in India. I was very young then, and I remember it was just a great feeling, my first World Championship.
My first was in 1994 and it's ten years ago already. It's been ten years and I'm still around. I won a stage again, like I did last year and the year before.
Now that I have retired, and even though I wanted to play more, I can always look back and say that at least I won Wimbledon; also, winning the tournament in Rotterdam in 1995.
Every year you suit up, you play for a championship. Some years, some teams... it was very few times I think I played on that realistically had a chance.