Quotes About Family

I was raised in Maryland. My mom was born in London, and my dad was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

My grandfather on my mother's side was a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; my other grandfather was a lawyer, and one time Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

My people came from western Tennessee and western Kentucky.

I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, born and raised. It was hard. I stayed with my momma, then I ended up moving with my daddy.

Knox County, Tennessee, is a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

I grew up on a mountain in Tennessee, and my brothers and I love to go to The Mountain Opry when we are home. There is alway an abundance of laughter and joy, and anyone can get up on stage and dance and sing. My family also goes to a candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve. It's such a wonderful way to spend the night before Christmas.

My father used to play ice hockey, though not at a high level, and my mother wasn't involved in sport at all, but they were keen that we played some sort of sport. They chose tennis because they thought it was a good sport for girls to play.

My dad taught me how to play tennis, and I owe that to him. But the better you get, the higher you climb, and the more lonely you get. I've had to sacrifice a lot of personal relationships, but that's the choice I made.

I always find the time to exercise - kitesurfing, tennis or cycling - and to spend time with my loved ones.

Nobody actually played tennis in my family.

I played tennis and softball, and we had horses, growing up.

In our house, the name for all athletic shoes - any that weren't dress or 'church' shoes - was 'tennis shoes,' or 'tennies.'

It's still important to have my dad there. He's the one that brought me up and we spent a lot of time together. It's very difficult for me to let him go. He knows what's best for me and my tennis.

When I wasn't playing with Barbie dolls, I was always playing with different kinds of balls, and my dad said, let's try tennis.

It is just a crazy life as a sportsman. My daughter, Sam, wants to go into tennis, and I tell her, 'No, you don't want to go into professional sport.'

When I was 4 my mother got divorced and we were very close to each other. I always wanted to be with her. She took me everywhere. When she went for dinner with friends or when they had meetings at the tennis club, I was always there.

My parents paid me small amounts for cleaning my room or cleaning the dishes and stuff, but I never really had a real job before I started on my professional tennis career.

My family belongs to a tennis club in Valencia, California, so I always go there. I play a lot of tennis with my dad and swim. And I like to go to the gym there.

Tennis was always there for me, which was lucky. I would go play baseball, basketball, football, hang with my brother, do whatever, and at the end of the day I'd come back and say, 'Hey, Mom, would you hit 15 minutes worth of balls with me?'

Summer I was 13, my grandfather and my father taught me how to play golf. I took lessons that summer, and I played every day that summer. I probably would've kept playing, except I realized that girls don't watch golf; they watch tennis. So I let my golf game go dormant and started playing tennis.

My parents wanted me and my siblings to practice some sports outside school. And since we lived next to a tennis club, we decided to play tennis. I didn't have an idol, so to speak, but I always enjoyed watching Pete Sampras and Alex Corretja.

The kids know what I'm doing when I exercise, and that's powerful. So don't just tell your kids to go play outside. Take a moment off your computer, put on your tennis shoes, hop outside and help them start their game and run off some energy.

My kids know the importance of being active - and that's why teaming up with the USTA was such an organic fit for me. They are making strives to get families outside - and using tennis as a way to get kids to stay active.

Everything's a real passion to me - my children, my family, my work, travel. I don't play tennis, I don't play music, but I have a great time.