I was not as gifted as Nick Kyrgios, John McEnroe and Rios, says Kafelnikov
Yevgeny Kafelnikov believes he had to work hard to become the world no. 1 as he was not very talented compared to many other players. The Russian said: "I was not even close to being gifted as John McEnroe. I was not gifted as I name Marcelo Rios. I was not gifted as, for example, Nick Kyrgios who nowadays is playing. All my success came because I did work hard. That's how I will always be remembered."
Kafelnikov believes many people helped him to be successful and improve: "There are three people I'm going to mention tonight who played a significant role in my accomplishment in my career. One was the junior days, the other one told me how to really be successful, how to become a mature person on the court and off the court, as well. Of course, Larry Stefanki is a great motivator. I worked for three years. We had a wonderful time. We started when I was really lacking some motivation. He helped me out for that stretch of time for three years to win the Australian Open '99, to win Olympic gold and become the no. 1. So three persons in my life are going to be mentioned today on the speech."
Li Na concluded: "I have to say thanks for all the coaches. I especially have one when I started playing tennis. She was teach me for 10 years. She never said I was good, yeah. This is very tough for me during the time. But really thanks how tough she was. Otherwise, I can't imagine in the future how tough I was on the court, yeah, a lot of coaches.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2GnATmF
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