Rod Laver Quotations

When you have the opportunity, you strike.

An otherwise happily married couple may turn a mixed doubles game into a scene from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

There's a lot of ingredients go into being a good tennis player.

Manners are manners. Jimmy Connors and Ilie Nastase have no respect. I don't want my kid seeing Nastase play. The demeanor you show on the court is important to tennis.... Maybe we (yesterday's stars) were too stereotyped. But we were told to behave or they'd take our racket away.

Staying interested in a match is a lot harder than many people think. Throughout my career, I've always had trouble in the early rounds of a tournament mainly because it was hard for me to psychologically get up until I got to the quarters or the semis. What happened a lot of times is that I would fall behind early, maybe even lose the first couple of sets in a five-set match and then begin to concentrate. Still it wasn't something I could control from the start.

I often surprise myself. You can't plan some shots that go in, not unless you're on marijuana, and the only grass I'm partial to is Wimbledon's.

Roger Federer certainly is my claim to be the best of all time - if there is such a thing. With Rafael Nadal not far behind,

There's a lot of competition now and a lot of the players have adapted his game to what they do, keeping the ball in play and chasing balls down.

I wouldn't bet against him. He's got so much talent.

That's a pretty good start, and he's 24. It's certainly amazing how well he plays in the finals. I wouldn't bet against him.