Dmitry Tursunov from Estoril
“Well, it's breakfast time. Some players (I won’t give you names anyway so as not to endanger my life) take great care of their diet. If you order an omelet, then only from proteins. They will never trade margarine for butter. And they also love that their forks and knives are selected very carefully and have the same vibration amplitude as the rackets! They are still funny people. But enough jokes, breakfast is a very serious process. This is the first battle of the day with its weaknesses. The battle, which is repeated whenever food catches my eye. No, not just food, but delicious food. Bacon, croissants, meat, sausages, cakes, coffee with milk - all this smiles, beckons and asks you to touch them even a little. But in another corner, cornflakes, rye bread, walnuts and various other dietary dishes are strictly watching me. They do not need to smile at me and make other attempts to charm, because they know - I, a professional tennis player, have no other choice. If you want your car to reach the target, you need to refuel it with good fuel. And I'm sure that walnuts know this !!! And the coach controls me, observing every meal whenever possible. But today he is not there ... Perhaps, while he is not there, I will steal one croissant. Honestly, only one! ”
Roger Federer from Tokyo
“At night I woke up from a nightmare. Screaming, he jumped out of bed and could not understand where I was. I ran, and in the dark hit the sharp and hard corner of the bed, bumping hard with my lower leg. I shouted something about the memorable game with Dmitry Tursunov in Toronto. Fortunately, my girlfriend Mirka woke up from the noise, turned on the light and reassured me. I don’t know what would have happened if she hadn’t been around. For a moment, it really became very scary, because nothing like this had ever happened to me and, I hope, will never happen again. Here it is, the other side of fame and success. After all, some people think that victories are very easy. Mirka also believes that I play too much this year, and my psyche begins to suffer because of this. "
Brothers Bob and Mike Brian from London
“It seems that today at Wimbledon, through our fault, has become historic. The thing is that we may have become the first tennis players at this stiff tournament to go out on the court in colored clothes, and not white, as required by etiquette. I don’t understand how the British security service ignored our trick. But it all ended very quickly. Thirty minutes after the start of training, a woman ran out of the organizing committee shouting about lost conscience and honor and put an end to this madness, as she put it. We won’t dare to repeat such an experience anymore, because one of the well-wishers has already told us face to face that they are warning here once, and if someone doesn’t understand it, local snipers come into action. ”
“Most tennis players are very superstitious. They monitor everything from constant visits to a “happy” shower to the location of rackets in a sports bag. They consider all this an indispensable attribute of their success. If, for example, you watch Nadal during breaks in a match, then make sure that he devotes 90 percent of his time to water bottles. He hardly drinks, but each time he arranges them in some order known only to him. My brother and I have prejudices. Once in Paris, we ate at a Chinese restaurant and after winning the next day decided to have dinner there only. As a result, by the end of the tournament we were ready to gag ourselves, not to eat at all, but just not to visit this terrible place. ”
“We want to assure all the fans - my brother and I are twins, but everyone has not only their own money, but also apartments, cars, clothes, friends and much more. And then one journalist recently wrote that the secret of our successful game is one toothbrush for two ... "
Nikolay Davydenko from Beijing
“Today, my friend Irina and I decided to visit the Great Wall of China. The road was very long, we got to the place, probably two hours. But when we finally arrived and looked at this wonder of the world, we realized that the path we had done was just flowers. Taking a deep breath, we began to climb the stairs, not seeing the end for them. That was not easy. Every forty meters I had to stop to rest. Irina already said that she would rather stay here forever than reach the end. I decided to take pity on her and took a time out to take some photos. We relaxed and were no longer sure whether to continue the journey, but the Russian mentality took its toll - the hard business must be completed. But you should have seen our faces when we realized that there was a way back: a thousand more steps. When all this ended, we happily got into the car and promised each other not to walk anymore. ”
James Blake from Sydney
“I have quite conflicting feelings from participating in the tour. When I go to the next tournament, my life seems to be slowing down, because at that moment only the preparations for the next match are of concern. And nothing else. When I am at home on vacation, I begin to worry: is my girlfriend happy, has answered all emails, has he paid all bills and taxes, etc. ”
“If you look for me in Melbourne next week, it will not be difficult for you - next to me will be a guy with a sparkling golden tooth! This is my trainer Brian, a big joker. When I won the first professional tournament, he said that I could not achieve more, and promised that if I won at least one more title, he would put a gold crown on his front tooth. Now he looks very funny, but I understand that with this bet he just wanted to make me not stop there and not relax. ”
ATP photo
Prepared by Andrey IVANTSOV