You always have to remain professional. I have always done so.

I was lucky to get a professional contract. I wasn't that sort of talent that is considered to be a professional player.

We have all the money in the world but do not realise how important the body is. A player on average has a seven year professional career, 10-15 if everything goes right. You have to do everything possible to be at your maximum.

In the moments before a game starts my stomach turns around as if I had to vomit. Then I have to choke so violently until my eyes tear.

I didn't associate playing tennis with making a living until I was maybe 18 or 19.

When I was younger, I had some close friends who always loved European football, and Real Madrid at that time were the dominant force. I remember family holidays when we used to go to Spain, and we'd bring back replica shirts of Real Madrid and pretend to be the players when we played in the park.

After 'Sports' came out in the fall of 1983, everything changed for me. Four of the album's singles became top-10 hits, and by the end of June in 1984, the album was No. 1 on the Billboard chart. It was quite a ride, and for the first time I had enough money to live the way I wanted.

All I dreamed of when I became a footballer was to play for a club as big as Real Madrid. It's maybe the most famous and best club in the history of football.