Pro Tennis Player Quotes of the Month

Sept. 15, 2022: “I’m a dynamic player. I can do anything on the court. The opponent can’t read my shots. In some moments, I can try (unique) shots. I can do a lot of shots.”

  • Carlos Alcaraz, asked what he considers his best quality after the 19-year-old Spaniard won the US Open.

Sept. 15, 2022: “I have the goal to put him on the high level of tennis. Of course, I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to achieve what [the Big 3] have done on tennis. We’re talking about 22 Grand Slams. He has only one. Is a long way still to go. But who knows? I think he has all the tennis and potential to be one of the best. All we have to do is try it.”

  • Juan Carlos Ferrero, who has coached Carlos Alcaraz, the new world No. 1 since he was 15, has high hopes about the teen sensation’s future.

Sept. 15, 2022: “I have been playing tennis since before I have a memory because my father played with me for fun when I was young. Tennis has always been a big part of my life. When I saw Rafa [Nadal], Roger [Federer] on TV when I was young, I said that I want to be on TV someday myself. I think that just stuck with me all my life, that someday I would like to try to become world No. 1 and win Grand Slams.”

  • Casper Ruud, who became the first Norwegian man in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final, losing in four entertaining sets to Carlos Alcaraz but rising to a career-high No. 2 in the rankings.

Sept. 15, 2022: “You know, everyone loves a Cinderella story. Just trying to make one.”

  • No. 22 seed Frances Tiafoe, after becoming the first American man to reach the U.S. Open semifinals since Andy Roddick in 2006 by defeating Andrey Rublev in straight sets.

Sept. 15, 2022: “You are fearless. I love it. And you hate to lose. It’s great. You’ve touched our hearts and minds to be our authentic self, to use our voices, to dream big. Thank you for your leadership and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, especially for women and women of color. Most of all, thank you for sharing your journey with every single one of us. We love you.”

  • Billie Jean King, paying tribute to superstar Serena Williams, who lost in the third round of her last Grand Slam event at the US Open.

Sept. 15, 2022: “It’s like a confirmation for me that the sky is the limit.”

  • Iga Swiatek, a 21-year-old Pole, who won her first two Grand Slam titles on clay at the French Open, was thrilled and encouraged that her third major crown came on hard courts at the US Open.

Aug. 15, 2022: “You just have to be a mental animal to win a Grand Slam. Novak, Federer, and Nadal, I think I give them a bit more respect now. Playing one of them in the final, I felt like he was fresh, felt like he wasn’t playing tennis for the last two weeks, never seen him rattled. I take so much confidence from it. The doubles earlier in the year with Thanasi [Kokkinakis] really helped me mentally, even though it was doubles.”

  • Nick Kyrgios told the Citi Open Instagram account what he learned during Wimbledon, where he reached his first Grand Slam final, losing in four high-quality sets to Novak Djokovic, who captured his seventh Wimbledon and 21st Grand Slam title.

Aug. 15, 2022: “I think it’s someone that left it all out there. Played with their heart on their sleeve, gave absolutely a hundred percent every time they stepped onto the tennis court, no matter what the situation was. Someone that took great pride in playing for their country, playing for their teammates, their captain, coach. Loyalty was a big, big thing for me in my life in general. For me, repaying those people that had that belief in me and backed me, I felt like I had to do a lot of things for them throughout my career. So they’re the things I’d like to be remembered for.”

  • Lleyton Hewitt, an Australian star who won the 2001 US Open and the 2002 Wimbledon, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on July 17, asked by Tennis.com: What is the legacy you want people to take away from who Lleyton Hewitt was on the court?

Aug. 15, 2022: “When Ash was winning, at the top of her tennis, they had so many people coming for coaching lessons because of her. So she has affected a lot of young kids out there to want to play this wonderful game. (Role models) are very important. I think Ash has inspired a lot more young girls to get out there and play this lovely game. So who knows? Maybe we’ll even find a champion here at the carnival.”

  • Evonne Goolagong Cawley, the 1970s Australian champion, whose foundation sponsors Indigenous tennis, telling Reuters that Ashleigh Barty’s impact had been clear in the community.

Aug. 15, 2022: “There is no happiness in this topic for me. I know it’s not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain. It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine. I hate it. I hate that I have to be at this crossroads. It’s like a taboo topic…It comes up, I get an uncomfortable lump in my throat, and I start to cry.”

  • What Serena Williams wrote in the September issue of Vogue magazine in her announcement that she would retire from pro tennis after the 2022 US Open.

Aug. 15, 2022: “I’ve learned a lot from them [Serena and sister Venus]. People always tell me that you’re going to be next whatever blah blah blah, and Serena has been considered the GOAT for at least the second half of her career and she never succumbed to that pressure. I think she overcame it, and I think that’s something I take from her and try to learn from it. Not that I’m at her level and experiencing the same pressure she is, but in the moment I try to emulate that.”

  • Coco Gauff has not taken to the “next Serena” tag, but Gauff admits that Williams’ rise to dominance as a Black woman in a “predominantly white sport” is something to aspire to.