Top 60 Mats Wilander Quotes

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

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.

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.

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

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

I play the guitar.

I have a better backhand than forehand.

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

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

Sure, it comes with a lot of bonus rewards, whatever it may be, some of it may be financial. And it is great to have been No 1 in the world, when you get a bit older you can reflect on it. But I was No 1 in the world before I actually was No 1 in the world, in my mind at least.

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.

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

There is no added pressure to play a Swede.

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

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.

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

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

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

You should play all the slams you physically can.

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!

The slide is tennis.

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

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’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.

I was a really good ice hockey player when I was a kid. Now in the aftermath I think I wasn’t maybe big enough, and I couldn’t have put on enough muscle to actually be able to play with the better guys, but I was a really good skater.

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

Nadal tries his best all the time, every point. But Kyrgios can spend 10 minutes looking like he would rather be walking down the King’s Road.

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

I’m not Borg Two, I’m Wilander One.

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.

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.

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 started with the two-handed backand before Borg was famous.

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

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

I’m not actually a musician.

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 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.

If it doesn’t mean more to a normal human being like Dan Evans, who could change his life and career by winning not a gold but a bronze medal for Great Britain, if he doesn’t want to take that chance, I would say something is wrong with the Olympics in what it’s worth in tennis.

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

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

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.

The point in tennis is to take the ball as early as possible and take time away from your opponent.

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.

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

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.

Maybe being number one has got to me, because from there you can only go down.

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

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

I play a lot of golf and I’m in a little ice hockey league at home in Idaho.