Quotes About Expectations

It's not like I am going to Barcelona as a tourist who is there to watch Messi in action. I am not going to say that I will bench Busquets or anything! But I think I have a good chance of getting plenty of minutes.

You will often see a young player have something of a hangover following a major tournament.

In a way getting fired up for these matches is what makes the Premier League the hardest tournament for me. Knowing I can lose and still be in the tournament probably makes me relax too much sometimes.

One win, and you're on top of the world. Lose in the first round of the next tournament: you're back to reality.

For us, the Grand Slams are very important. When the Grand Slams come, you're thinking, 'OK, this is the tournament.' To lose there is disappointing.

Spain always go into a tournament with the idea of performing the best we can.

I was tough on myself when I didn't finish off a tournament right.

When you get to a tournament, everybody wants to do well, especially against a seeded player.

It's so important to do well in the first game of a tournament because it can be key in the group. If you lose, you have so much pressure on the next two games.

Expectations run immensely high in Croatia. We may only be a small country, but people expect us to be our best at every major tournament.

I felt a ton of pressure in '08. A lot of great things were expected of me right out of the gate, and I brought some of that on myself with those great early results. But I wasn't a good enough player to make a run every fourth or fifth tournament. I wasn't as good a player as my ranking indicated.

Unfortunately, in our business, it's all about the tournament when you're a good team.

When you step foot into your first professional tournament, everything you've done in your amateur career really doesn't matter any more.

When you start a round with a two-shot lead, it always looks like a big lead and always looks as if you should go on to win a tournament.

I feel like I always win at least a round or two at every tournament. I don't go out in the first round too often.

If you win even one tournament or medal, people can think they have become big.

The pro playoff system doesn't cause the same tension. Suppose a team has a bad night? It can bounce back in the next game. In college tournament all they can hope for is the consolation, maybe.

I don't play a lot of tournaments, but if I don't win a tournament in a year, people are like, 'What in the world is going on?' People don't realize how hard it is to win tournaments. You're not going to go out and play 10 tournaments and win one of them. Your odds aren't that good.

We want to change the way people think about England teams. At the men's tournaments, we haven't exceeded expectations, and it's the same with the women's. If we can change that, it could have a knock-on effect, even for the men's team.

Pressure comes from myself, because I expect a lot, but I am trying not to put so much pressure on tournaments and to be less emotional during matches.

I've always been a bit shy, especially in new situations. But I have that other side in me too. Cricket demands that you grow up fast. Playing in domestic tournaments as an overseas player, you're expected to score runs and bring a lot to the group. And I expect that of myself.

In the knockout tournaments, it's futile to prepare for a grand finale. You may have worked out many strategies for the final. But you may lose in the first round itself.

I have been in tournaments before where people would say, 'England should win this game,' and we didn't.

I'd rather be able to play great tennis at a slam than make eight finals of little tournaments and then lose first round of a slam. That doesn't sound too good.