My mother said I would have more chances to become a tennis player than a football player.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My mother wanted very much to play tennis; she wanted, most of all, to be a singer and play the piano.
As a kid, I wanted to be a pro tennis player. I was pretty good; at the tennis academies I attended, I always 'played up' against older age groups.
No, like I said, my dad was never really part of the tennis. His involvement around what I did with the tennis and with my mom and my grandparents was really not a part of my life.
I've been athletic since I was a kid. My parents got me playing tennis when I was seven years old and I started to play competitively.
I knew I was the second-best tennis player in the state of Florida and No. 8 in the United States of America when I was 12 years old and I couldn't tell you what I was in baseball, but I liked my chances in tennis of getting a scholarship to college.
I grew up surrounded by tennis, so I was obviously more interested in it than football - particularly as it's the most popular sport.
One day my dad would say, 'OK, if you want to play tennis I can help you out.' And that's how it started. And I had a goal. I wanted to beat my mom first. And my parents and my brother. And that was the ultimate goal.
You know my dad pushed me to believe that I was going to be the best. I just never thought of life without tennis, even looking forward.
Tennis is what I do and is part of who I am.
It is just a crazy life as a sportsman. My daughter, Sam, wants to go into tennis, and I tell her, 'No, you don't want to go into professional sport.'
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