Boris Becker quotes:

A few years after my first son was born, he wanted to know how we chose his name, so I began reading him the story of Noah's Ark.

I lost in the second round of the French Open and had 10 days off. I went to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was exciting to be away from my parents, to stay in a hotel. Hotels at 17 meant freedom.

When I was a child, I had posters of James Dean in my room. I was a big admirer of his work and was fascinated by him living on the edge. Looking back, my life was kind of the same.

I want to be a hero, a small and good kind of hero, even though I know heroes have very short lives.

I believe that everything in life happens for a reason.

Girls had never been important. I'd had a girlfriend or two and had liked them a lot but it wasn't love, because my first love was tennis.

The eyes of some of the fans at Davis Cup matches scare me. There's no light in them. Fixed emotions. Blind worship. Horror. It makes me think of what happened to us long ago.

It was a confusing time in my life, a really bad day at the office.

An autobiography is not about pictures; it's about the stories; it's about honesty and as much truth as you can tell without coming too close to other people's privacy.

When you are thrown onto the stage at 17 in such an enormous way, it becomes living on the edge because every step you take, every word you speak, every action you do becomes headline news. And it became, for me, life or death.

I met with my lawyers. They gave me all the wrong advice. For a long time I refused to accept the child was mine. I should have met her, arranged a DNA test and accepted my responsibility.

How do you build a relationship when you've hardly shared a word but suddenly share a child? How do you love a daughter you don't see for nearly two years? When does she become your daughter? How does she become your daughter?

I can't change history, I don't want to change history. I can only change the future. I'm working on that.

I don't really care what the man on the street thinks. I never did anything to please him in the first place, and I'm not going to start now.

If I go into a club now, all the blonde girls leave my corner and all the black girls come into my corner. It's as if I'm racist towards white girls!

So this is it. Match point for eternity.

I go to London, my favourite city in the world, and I feel at home.

I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I love to play.

The suit-and-tie job is very nice, but it's not really who I am in my heart.

I was in the tennis bubble. I wasn't thinking about the big picture. I didn't notice what they said on television, I wasn't reading any papers. I had a coach and a manager, and they kept me in the bubble.

For a year, I had all sorts of weirdos coming on to me.

Thats the hard part about sport: as men we havent started to be in our prime, but as athletes we are old people. I needed support. I lost trust and did stupid things.

I'm not a God, I make mistakes.

The suit-and-tie job is very nice but it's not really who I am in my heart.

I go to my favourite tournament, I talk about my favourite sport and it's just a great month of parading.

Where do you go when you're the best in the world? What's next?

Every time you are not practicing someone else is.

The fifth set is not about tennis, it's about nerves.

Tennis is a psychological sport, you have to keep a clear head. That is why I stopped playing.

I haven't lost a war. No one got killed. I just lost a tennis match.

I drew my strength from fear. Fear of losing. I don't remember the games I won, only the games I lost.

It's not that difficult to play well and win titles in a team like Barcelona, but it's in the national side where you see a player's true class. That was the case with figures like Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane. With Spain, Iniesta has shown that he is among the best players of all time and that's why I rate him higher than Messi or Ronaldo. Even though the latter two have incredible scoring records for their clubs, they still haven't won anything with Argentina or Portugal respectively.

Winning is a way of expressing yourself.

Tennis has to be very careful.Not everyone is a computer, it is very good we have John McEnroe. I hope we have a couple more.

Its silly to say it about a tennis player, but Im an unbelievable hero in Germany. And Germany needs heroes more than any place.

I didn't start a war. Nobody died.

I believed in raising my children as I had been raised.

The boys are so powerful off of the baseline now that they don't have to come to the net to finish points. That's the reason we went to the net. To finish the point. Nowadays, even the big guys can hit winners four feet behind the baseline.

We have a guy from Switzerland who is just playing the game in a way I haven't seen anyone - and I mean anyone - play before. How fortunate we are to be able to see that. If he stays healthy and motivated - and the wonderful feel he has stays with him - he is the kind of guy who can overtake the greatest.

Andre Sa is playing close to his potential - maybe even above it.

Girls are a distraction and can easily cost points.

I don't know how many millions of photographs have been taken of me.

Does anyone ask their parents how they are conceived?