I used to hear a lot that all I could do was hit a serve, I couldn't volley, I can't hit a backhand, I don't return well, and then people would turn round and tell me I'm underachieving.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I need to get better as a player, I need to get fitter, and I need to get better on the mental side. It's exciting for me, because there's so much I could do better. I don't feel like I've really maxed out any shot. People talk about my serve, but I think that can even get better.
To meet my goals, I couldn't let up when I was playing tennis.
Sometimes you can really serve well and win the match because of the serve. I have the opposite thing now, so it's kind of hard. I can just really play with my forehand and backhand.
I didn't serve and volley until I got to Wimbledon in '77.
I was kind of a slap hitter, trying to get base hits, hit line drives, stay below a certain trajectory with my ball.
It was very hard for me to practice and enjoy my tennis, and I didn't know the why, so I worked with psychologists to try and see what was happening. They pushed me really hard.
If you serve well, your volleys are going to be so much easier. It has got to do with confidence, obviously.
I was a volleyball player as a kid. I played volleyball all the time.
I was no great achiever at school, either academically or in the sporting field... I was always tending to be in trouble.
The serve, I was too young and too small and... not enough powerful to have a good serve when I was young, so my forehand was always my signature shot. So I used to always run around my backhand, you know, use my forehand as much as I could, and so that's why I think it's my strength also today, you know.
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