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We love the players. They entertain us with the hitting of the ball and the running and the holding of koalas and all the other things they do that us mere mortals can’t. But they can be especially entertaining when they vocalise their thoughts. So, without further ado, here are the best quotes from AO 2013.
Jerzy Janowicz
“How many times?” Courtesy of Jerzy’s meltdown that has now been viewed on YouTube more than 1 million times. Watch it here.
Afterwards, Jerzy was asked about his on-court reaction:
“Actually, I went nuts. I calmed down little bit later on. Sometimes I have problem to control my emotions, but I'm trying to work on this.”
Question: All of a sudden you are making money and have sponsors. Has this changed you, your life?
“This changed my life, but this not change me. I'm all the time same crazy person, and I hope is going to be all the time the same.”
Janko Tipsarevic
It was a sorry end for the bespectacled Serb who was forced to withdraw from his fourth round match with a foot injury.
“It was a beautiful day for tennis and I really felt I could play well. And I could not be more pissed off with the way I finished the competition.”
Li Na
The Chinese No.1 discusses coach Carlos Rodriguez’s new training regime and the reaction of her husband and former coach, Jiang Shan:
“I was doing some exercise with Carlos. He [Jiang Shan] was sitting in the gym. After halfway, he was like, ‘Are you finished?’ I said, ‘No, only halfway’. He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Really, yes. I do this for three days already’. He said, ‘I'm tired’. I say, ‘Don't say that. I'm doing exercises, you're only sitting. Don't say you're tired’.”
Sloane Stephens
“I think I’ll put up a poster of myself,” was the response from Sloane Stephens, who had a poster of Serena Williams on her wall as a girl, when asked if she ever thought she would beat Williams to win through to her first Grand Slam semifinal.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
“You know, the girls, they are more unstable emotionally than us. I'm sure everybody will say it's true – even the girls (laughter). No? No, you don't think?
“But, I mean, it's just about hormones and all this stuff. We don't have all these bad things, so we are physically in a good shape every time, and you are not. That's it.”
Maria Kirilenko
After being beaten in straight sets by Serena Williams, Kirilenko is asked: How surprised would you be if Serena didn't win the tournament?
‘Well, I don't care now, to be honest.”
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Gilles Simon
After his loss to Andy Murray:
“It's difficult when you run a marathon two days before to go for one more two days after.”
Maria Sharapova
“You're just over the fitness, you're over your coach for a little bit. You really want to go out into a match atmosphere. Part of it is because you're coming here [to Australia]. It's summertime. Everyone is in a great mood, chatty, probably half drunk it's so hot, you just want cold mojitos.”
She may be the new Queen of Sweet Treats but that doesn’t mean that Maria Sharapova is sweetness and light all the time. Ask the wrong question and it may end like this:
Q. According to Forbes, Li Na is the second most paid female athlete in the world.
MS: “Since when do we pay attention to Forbes?”
Q. Do you feel like it's an interesting thing to know?
MS: “Do you?”
Q. You are the most paid.
MS: “Do you think that they have my passcode to my bank account?”
Q. I don't know.
MS: “Well, think about it (smiling).”
When asked what she would call a new Sugarpova flavour based on her first four matches, Maria Sharapova had this to say:
“I don't know. I would call it steamy, but just for different reasons.”
Sam Stosur
“I don't know. Whatever word you want to put on it. At 5‑2 up in the third, double break probably is a bit of a choke, yeah.”
Ryan Harrison
“It's certainly strange that he's [Andy Roddick] not the top dog right now. But as he would tell you guys, he's still ranked ahead of me.”
Bernard Tomic
“I got in there, I started to think after they mentioned all these Grand Slams leading up, Wimbledon champion six times, six times US Open champion (laughter). Then I was, ‘Oh, crap, it's Roger’. I try to block out who's on the other side of the net but couldn't quite do it after that announcement.”
Victoria Azarenka
For those of you who can’t get enough of Victoria Azarena’s grunt, it’s soon to be featured in a track by LMFAO’s Redfoo.
“It's my grunt. It's not my vocals. I don't take high key or low key there. It's just natural.”
Victoria Azarenka on how much she thinks about tennis:
“I really never think about tennis so much. Even when I prepare for my match, I'm in the zone, I'm not thinking about it.”
Serena Williams
On Lance Armstrong:
“You know, the only thing I knew about him was that he dated Sheryl Crow. I met him once very briefly, and that's it.”
Question: If you would have a second life, would you love to be a tennis ball?
“A tennis ball? Absolutely not. I have no desire to be hit around. No pun intended. We should probably end this. It's late and my mind is not clear right now.”