I was reading the September issue of the AZTEC Tennis Reporter newsletter (San Diego State Tennis coverage), which has an interesting debate on the pros and cons of recruiting foreign players into collegiate tennis teams. Born and raised in Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1985, I can relay to this issue and tend to be more a pro guy. One of the many reasons for me: Foreign tennis players leave some funny quotes behind and I thought starting off the week on a humorous note with some quotes from foreign players may be an excellent idea. Sorry for the language in Thomas Muster's quote, but I personally think it's hilarious!
Quotes:
An otherwise happily married couple may turn a mixed doubles game into a scene from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
(Rod Laver)
Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row!
(Vitas Gerulaitis on finally beating Jimmy Connors)
Boyfriends have to understand my needs. I shower four times a day.
(Anna Kournikova)
The trouble with me is that every match I play against five opponents: umpire, crowd, ball boys, court and myself.
(Goran Ivanisevic)
I won't be watching the women's final, that's for sure. I'm not into women's tennis anymore.
(Leyton Hewitt after his separation from Kim Cliisters)
I really am tired a little bit of making comebacks.
(Marat Safin)
I was thinking that if I hit his nuts, maybe he would serve like a woman.
(Thomas Muster on Greg Rusedski)
(Jelena Dokic at the 2001 Australian Open)
On the coin toss Martina said: Do you want me to break your serve first or hold? The umpire looked shocked. But we just both cracked up.
(Lindsay Davenport on a match she played with Martina Hingis)
But one of my all time favorite quotes comes from an American player, Bobby Riggs. Years ago, while I was working in the aerial photography/digital imaging field, I was commissioned to create all the displays for the Bobby Riggs Tennis Museum at the Bobby Riggs Tennis Club in Cardiff. The biggest job was to make larger-than-life size images of the most important players in Bobby's life, mount them on display board and hang them on the walls of the museum. I recall those players to be Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzales, Margaret Court, Pancho Segura and Billie Jean King. That's when I started to become a BR fan and collector of his memoribilia.
BJK was the subject of his famous quote, which goes like this:
"I'll put Billie Jean King and all the other Women's Libbers back where they belong - in the kitchen and the bedroom."
