There is always a dream, for me, in the locker room before matches as well during the day. If you have a strong mind, a strong tendency to keep you strong, I think your dream is coming.

We all know how to play tennis. We all know how to hit the ball. It's more just about those details - managing all those early rounds and just managing yourself to make sure you're ready for whatever is coming up next.

The negative talk, everything that has been coming my way, I don't care about it.

I never thought I was going to make a career out of tennis, to be honest, until I was 10 or 11 years old. One of my earliest memories is when I was seven, and I was competing against players that were three, four years older than me. I didn't take it too seriously at the time. I was having a lot of fun.

I write first drafts by hand. Never do I open an umbrella inside the house. I don't predict wins or losses. I used to stand on a certain piece of rug if my brothers and husband were watching football and their team got in trouble - but now the luck went out of that rug. If a circle is involved, I try to go clockwise.

I look at myself, and how much I've gotten just because I play a sport well.

Yes, sports are very often very boring, which is good and necessary: If games were one long highlight, we wouldn't have any highlights at all.

In sport, as in science, business, and diplomacy, as Scots we understand that we benefit from the deep and diverse partnerships that make up the United Kingdom.