People think your success is just a matter of having a pretty face. But it's easy to be chewed up and spat out. You've got to stay ahead of the game to be able to stay in it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Success can make you go one of two ways. It can make you a prima donna - or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out.
I have scored some big-time goals. I've done well in Algarve Cups. I've done well in World Cup and Olympic qualifiers, Olympics. In big games when we're playing top-five teams. But yet, you never see my face or my name out there. And it has frustrated me my entire career.
If you're an attractive guy, everyone thinks you're successful just because of the way you look. I hate that.
If you're going to succeed, then you just have to be thick-skinned. It's something I developed early in my career, and it just goes with the territory.
The more success you get, you start to be harder on yourself or more afraid of the looking glass. You have to learn to build a thicker skin because people are paying more attention.
You have to be a student of the game to be successful, and it's promising when you can say that, with a world-record performance, I still have things to improve on!
As an athlete, success is not just about winning; it is about working hard and giving it all you have. I have always taken one match at a time and worked hard; when I succeeded, I worked further on the aspects of the game which worked for me; when I failed, I listed out my weaknesses and worked on them.
You can be a pretty face, but if you're not a nice person, it just doesn't work. I'm not traditionally a beauty, but apparently people think I'm all right. If you're a nice person, it definitely helps.
Before you become successful, you have to fall down on your face.
A lot of my success is because of what I look like. I know that.