Mats Wilander Quotes

The biggest mistake we usually tend to make with young players is over-coaching.

Usually if you haven’t figured out how you want to play tennis yourself, it is hard to accept the failures of playing five sets.

When you become a top player, you think that nothing else and nobody else matters. You can tell everybody on earth, ‘Listen, I’m playing tennis, I don’t have time for you. I’m in the semifinals of the U.S. Open, screw everybody and everything else.’

I am really impressed with Dominic Thiem’s patience at times.

I always feel that if you were the best in any generation, you most likely would have been close to the best in any other generation too.

If an athlete like Michael Jordan played tennis, he would be the best – he’s flexible, not too bulky, and has unbelievable hand-to-eye coordination.

I have a better backhand than forehand.

To me, Hewitt and Nadal would be the best spirited fighters I’ve ever seen on the tennis court.

He didn’t have the best shots but the intensity of the match and the positive energy you got from playing Yannick Noah was something I didn’t get from anyone else.

I think every human being has good intentions in one aspect of life and some in every.

Borg had an American attitude, which I think is not so good. He only enjoyed winning and he was out of tennis when he was 26.

There is no added pressure to play a Swede.

I couldn’t ever be a better player than I was in 1988.

You should play all the slams you physically can.

I’m a private person and being recognized makes me uncomfortable.

To me, Dan Evans is an example of somebody that puts the clock back a little bit and tells everybody: ‘Listen, tennis is not a freak sport where you need to have rich parents, who sit in your players’ box for every single week of the whole year, and you need to talk to your coaches’ box between every shot.’

I’ve gone past the stage where I feel pressure.

I am disappointed when I lose and don’t play well, for example. But it is not so disappointing to lose when you play good. And I never feel I want to put the racquet down and walk away because of losing.

We’ve never had a hungrier player than Federer and Nadal and I would say that Nadal is probably much hungrier than Federer.

Hockey is the dream of all Swedes. They get the girls.

When I first retired from the game, I had times in my life when the days just wouldn’t move.

Ninety five percent of the field is not competitive when Nadal is playing.

Tennis has always been at the forefront of equality between men and women’s prize money.

Nadal is just more at home on clay. It looks like he feels safer on clay courts. He can get to a few more balls, he can play a bit further behind the baseline when he defends, and he’s also able to get the ball to bounce higher. It’s unbelievable.

Power is not tennis to me. I’d rather lose playing my game.

In 2015, there was no chance Djokovic would have an off day.

I decided to work really hard in 1987. I hired Matt Doyle, a former pro player, and he helped me with my physical training. Lendl was the first to focus on that. He used to be weak, physically and mentally.

In Sun Valley, people play tennis and then go for a hike. You should be too tired to go for a hike!

Nadal is going to break all the records.

My genetic makeup is a little bit crazy.

I hardly ever watch TV and when I do it’s sports. I’ll occasionally stick on some old episode of ‘Fawlty Towers’ or something.

No absolutely not, I don’t have any regrets about anything I’ve done in my life I learn from my mistakes and without mistakes I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Maybe we can see more men’s and women’s combined events so the young players can be marketed better.

I love camping out, I love teaching tennis.

If you don’t get tired or bored then there is something wrong with you – you are not human. People maybe don’t realize that. Players try to hide it and try to be the perfect role model, but it is not always so easy.

I like to camp and to not have to check in to airports and hotels and I love to just drive, man.

I think people expect me to be around at the end of a tournament.

I always want to win when I play, but sometimes I just can’t get that interested all the time.

I love my life. I commentate for Eurosport, so you could say I’ve reached the final of every grand slam since 2002 when I started that. I love what I do, and I love playing tennis with amateurs, regular guys, helping to teach them to enjoy tennis more.

I really enjoyed playing Yannick Noah – he was and still is my favourite. In the heat of the moment he was very fair and very physical. He was strong, big and he moved unbelievably well. He was also mentally tough.

People talk about the drama of the set that goes on and on. But it leaves one guy exhausted for the next round, it’s horrible for the players waiting to come on court, and it has the potential to mess up the schedule for everyone.

I still rate my first victory in the French Open at Roland Garros as my best win ever.

I think someone like Denis Shapovalov on a fast court and being left-handed is a massive, massive danger to everybody.

Del Potro is one of these miracle men he can come up with these matches where you least expect it and he pulls something out of the bag. I have no idea what it is but he becomes a magician.

Federer can be off for six months but knows how to win matches.

The conditions change so much at the French Open, you know, you have to be prepared for something you really don’t know what it is. You can practice in the morning and it’s fine, and the weather is great then you come to play in the afternoon and it is drizzly and the conditions are totally different.

The really top guys play within themselves 99 percent of the time.

That’s why the tactics are so hard against Kyrgios because no one knows what he is going to do.

Ivan Lendl was the best player I ever played. He was the first guy to bring the game to more of a power level and you could know that if he played really well you could get blown off court and that wouldn’t happen against John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors or even Bjorn Borg or Guillermo Vilas.

When I was 14 I wasn’t even thinking of playing professional tennis. I was thinking of going to high school in Sweden then getting a job.

Everyone has a temper, but in Sweden, no one throws a racquet or screams. We show more manners and common sense. This is a game, not war.

I’m never really aware of mistakes I’ve made when I’m commentating or on TV, I’m sure they happen sometimes and I guess it makes for a more interesting experience!

Guys like Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal know how to win matches, they don’t need to have as much confidence as other players.

There is no such thing as bad luck in tennis. Just bad technique.

We need more honesty out there, but it is hard when you see what the media does to someone who is trying to be honest.

It is basic, serve at the weak point of your opponent.

More than half of the matches are won in the dressing room for him. The guy he’s playing against is sitting in the locker-room thinking ‘oh my God, I’m going to play Rafa Nadal on clay in five sets, that’s going to be painful.’

I think it’s bad in a way for junior players and college players to feel they must be number one.

You can’t be considered a great player unless you win Wimbledon. That’s the way it is.

Your game stalls when you assume you’re the finished product.

I have fun playing tennis and I understand that the good things from tennis go hand in hand with attention. But it’s not important to me.

There’s definitely a lack of self-belief in many players, which is the only complaint I have about men’s tennis.

Andy Murray’s already done what is needed for British tennis, which is ignite it. There’s a person, there’s a player that kids want to be like.

I never contemplated retiring but when I was a teenager I never thought I’d play past 30 years old. I thought I’d win a few tournaments and then have a family.

Wimbledon is not the easiest tournament in which to make a comeback.

To me, there are only a few tournaments that are important. The Grand Slams, Davis Cup, the Swedish Open; that’s about it.

Nick Kyrgios, physically, is a monster. When he is on the court and he runs, he flies. And he has got a massive arm.

Every player, they should sit down and have a meeting. They should agree, ‘this is how we play Nadal, this is how we play Federer, this is how we play Djokovic.’ Then, all try to play them the same way. The right way. First you have to play the right way, then you need to play well.

Myself and Cameron Lickle travel around North America in an RV and we conduct tennis clinics in clubs.

Rafael Nadal, I see no demons in him. None. Unless he picks up the racket with his right hand.

The more happy you are off the court, the more you will get out of yourself on the court.

I play the guitar.

I’m a useless guitar-player. When I put myself in a band I immediately became its weakest part. I was like my forehand volley at tennis.

Tennis is a running game, not a hitting game – it’s not golf.

You have to hate to lose.

I was No 1 in the world but too much is made of it.

Miloslav Mecir – best anticipation of any player in our generation for sure. The most flexible… and then crazy good hands. He is the best player in the world to not have won a slam, for sure. No question in my mind. He should have won three or four.

I’m not actually a musician.

Everybody gets bored or rather emotionally flat sometimes, but most players are not so honest as Tomic. They have sponsors that need to be happy, and they want to keep the tour happy.