QUOTES OF THE WEEK

n It's impossible to bat properly when you don't know if the ball is going to come through shin high or chin high. Mike Atherton, England cricket captain, after Test defeat at Edgbaston

n I just hope people appreciate the tennis I play. I'm not going to throw tantrums or act like a jerk out there. That's the way I was brought up and that's the way I shall continue to be. Pete Sampras, three times Wimbledon champion

n He [Sampras] owns the Centre Court. It used to be mine in the Eighties. Boris Becker, beaten in four sets by Sampras in Wimbledon men's singles final

n He [Andre Agassi] has no friends on the circuit. I would go as far as to say he is not actively liked by the rest of the players. Becker.

n I think women's tennis can survive without Monica and Monica can survive without tennis. But we're both better off with each other. Monica Seles.

n For all the knockers of British tennis, they can put this in their pipe and smoke it. Ian Barclay, the coach of British players Martin Lee and James Trotman, who won the Boys' doubles title at Wimbledon.

n People will say I have a screw loose, that I've lost it, but perhaps it's just that I am in the 0.1 per cent of footballers who doesn't give a toss about unlimited money. Matthew Le Tissier, explains why he has not yet succumbed to the lure of a bigger club.

n He is a product rather than a person. Damon Hill on his motor racing rival, Michael Schumacher.

n My heart is with [Manchester] United, but I can't stay for one reason - and that's the manager. Andrei Kanchelskis

n They're parasites. If they could coach themselves, they'd develop their own players. Laurie Mains, New Zealand's rugby union coach, attacks Australian rugby league scouts who persuade top All Black players to switch codes.

Rob McLean