Rate it!

1 votes

All the players views and reactions following the day two in SW19.

Venus Williams after opening her campaign for a sixth Wimbledon title with a 6-3 6-2 win over Stefanie Voegele: "If you'd pick one Slam to win, it has got to be this one. I've been in a position to win the others but something happened - I ran into tough players in the final or whatever. It's the best place to be when you are a pro tennis player and I savour every blade of it. But for me this has been place of great success. There have been so many wins in singles and doubles, it is a place of pure joy."

Marat Safin on his need to take a break from tennis after an ignominious 6-2 3-6 7-6 6-4 first-round defeat by American qualifier Jesse Levine: "I need to get out of my brain and start from a new page. I definitely need a huge vacation... I need more than a couple of months just to start all over again from the blank paper. If everything accumulates inside of me, I cannot play."

British number one Anne Keothavong in tears after being asked if she had let people down on a day that saw six local players knocked out of the tournament: "I feel like I've let myself down more than anything...Wimbledon is such a special tournament to me. This year, especially, I just felt... I've overcome so much just to get where I am. You can't guarantee the results at the end of the day but I think you can definitely guarantee that all the British girls have tried, you know, 110 per cent."

Elena Baltacha on beating Alona Bondarenko to secure her place as the only British female left in the competition: "I knew I was the last one going on. I was the last hope and I'm chuffed I managed to pull it out of the bag."

Jelena Dokic after repeated questions about her estranged father Damir, who has recently been jailed for making death threats against the Australian ambassador to Serbia: "Every time he does something, I just don't think it's necessary for me to answer questions regarding that because it really has nothing to do with me. Now and forever, there is no way that I would ever reunite with him or ever have a relationship with him. So this is the last sentence ever you guys will hear from me (on the subject) and that's the way it is."

Caroline Wozniacki was full of praise for Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krum, after battling past the 38-year-old in three sets: "It's amazing that she's still coming back and still playing at this level, I think that's great, and she's in such good shape. I'm really impressed."

Date Krumm, though, was less impressed by her physical condition during the match: "I was cramping in the third set and couldn't move. But if I had extra power and energy, I think it could have been a different story. These days the players are all very powerful. I like to use my head and I think if people used slice, volleys and more approaches, tennis would be more interesting."

Lleyton Hewitt, never one to shy away from controversy, said women would be unable to cope with five set matches, a suggestion to solve the equal pay row: "I don't think a lot of them would last five sets. The training you have to do to last five sets, especially seven best of five-set matches, it's a lot more than three-set matches. There would obviously be question marks (over whether) a lot of them could last that much."

Chilean 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez said he is keen to renew his rivalry with world number three Andy Murray despite admitting to a struggle on court in the first round: "I would love to play Andy (Murray) again, I would love to be in the quarter-finals... but first I have many tough matches before I can think about being here next week. I have pain, big pain, in my knees. It's much worse on the grass and the hard courts than on the clay where you just slide instead of trying to stop. I didn't play great tennis today, I wasn't that happy. But I served well which you need to do here."

Dinara Safina said she is keen to shake her fear of losing after her third Grand Slam final defeat at the French Open: "It was disappointing (at Roland Garros). I stepped on the court and I knew I had a good chance, but this wanting to win a Grand Slam, it took over me. Instead of just focusing on the match, on what exactly I have to do, I went on the court just not to lose because I wanted so badly to win. Somehow I have to let it go, just to focus more on my game than on the result of the match. I lost last year in the final at the French Open, and I did the same this year. Exactly the same mistakes."

Jelena Jankovic after booking her place in the second round with a tough 6-4 7-6(0) win over Julia Goerges: "The most important thing is to just enjoy my tennis, find that smile on the court when I'm competing, and play loose no matter what. Just go out there and have fun. And then that's the time when I play great tennis. When I'm disappointed and frustrated with myself, with the mistakes I make, then that is not good for me."

Eurosport