Steffi Graf quotes:

You cannot compare your athletic achievement to the importance of children and giving them a safe environment in which to grow up and enjoy life.

I've thrown away lots of my old diaries - you never know who might get their hands on them. But I have kept a few notes on the good old days.

My big dream was to work as a photographer for 'National Geographic.'

You can't measure success if you have never failed. My father has taught me that if you really do want to reach your goals, you can't spend any time worrying about whether you're going to win or lose. Focus only on getting better.

I never look back, I look forward.

I appreciate very much being injury-free.

I think it takes people to get to know you and the recognition comes over time.

You can have a certain arrogance, and I think that's fine, but what you should never lose is the respect for the others.

Grass is a surface I have always loved, Wimbledon is a tournament I have always loved.

I had a lot of different thoughts and ideas and always to transform, but I'm trying certain things that I feel my heart is really going for and that was one of the things that I initiated a few months ago.

I don't ever look back. I look forward.

I don't like the word 'businesswoman.' Perhaps 'committed mother' would be the best description.

If you go to a big city anywhere in the world and you need a doctor, just ask me. I can tell you who's good and who's bad. I've even considered writing a guidebook.

Tennis has always been a big challenge to me and to be able to play that kind of tennis - well, only tennis can produce these feelings for me.

You can't measure success if you have never failed.

I don't wake up every day and think about which tournaments I won and which titles I hold. It's something I don't care about.

Age, what is it? It's not a figure that has ever meant anything to me.

As long as I can focus on enjoying what I'm doing, having fun, I know I'll play well.

I am a person who sticks to her word.

I have always been guided by striving to show the best that I could. That is what kept me going in tennis and it is the same now.

I knew that maybe I couldn't be playing again, but I just wanted to get in physical shape.

I never hanker after the past - I prefer to devote myself to new tasks.

I suppose it's amazing how quick life goes by when you have children.

If you watch Rafael Nadal play tennis, you can only respond with amazement and great admiration. He is an incredible athlete with so much discipline, so much concentration and someone who likes to put a lot of passion into every point. Words fail to come out of me to describe his game appropriately. I've rarely seen anyone who approaches a ball with so much attention. With such passion and joy that it makes great fun to watch him. With him, you can associate everything that makes tennis so beautiful.

It doesn't hurt to lose my crown, it hurts to lose.

It shifted attention away from that and Ive never been someone who liked the attention from the media anyway.

It's so difficult to find time besides the tennis.

Ive been taught very early on that if you want to win a tournament youve got to beat anybody, and hopefully I play well and enjoy it.

Sometimes I wish I could have been a bit more relaxed, but then I wouldn't have been the same player.

The tennis wasn't really very much on my mind, so it wasn't like I was thinking about it all the time.

There is no relief at it being over. There is the joy of winning it.

When you lose a couple of times, it makes you realize how difficult it is to win.