Venus Williams

Sjogren's is something you live with your whole life. The good news for me is now I know what's happening after spending years not knowing... I feel like I can get better and move on.

I don't want to give anyone an edge in my mind. Every time I walk out on the court, I have to feel I'm the best so I can compete well. A lot of times, my chief rival is just me.

I think nowadays it's so easy as an athlete to become a statistic whether or not you lose everything or having trouble or whatever it may be.

I have always said that after sport, I wanted a life, I wanted an opportunity, I wanted to be able to do something. And if something happens - the economy falls out or the dollar is worthless, anything could happen - you have to be ready to work. And I'm ready.

If I have to work hard or think hard or just copy somebody else that's doing it better - whatever it takes, I'm going to find that solution. That's the drive that keeps me going.

Sports are a great place to show that equality can happen.

Tennis is mostly mental. You win or lose the match before you even go out there.

I know it's not the most important thing for me to win the most Grand Slams and be remembered in this world. I certainly don't have to win little tournaments here, there and everywhere, I don't have to win at all. Although I do want to.

Of course, I want to be number one. But being happy and healthy is the most important thing.

After almost 30 years of playing this sport, I've learned something. I've learned that, no matter what happens, or happened... or where you are, or where you've been... at the end of the day: tennis is tennis. It's always, always tennis. And there's nothing better.

I don't focus on what I'm up against. I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest.

When you get told that you have a disease, it's like: 'Really? Nah, it's all right. I don't believe that. It must be something else, I'm just making an excuse, let me push harder.'

Tennis is mostly mental. Of course, you must have a lot of physical skill, but you can't play tennis well and not be a good thinker. You win or lose the match before you even go out there.

As an athlete and as a woman, I get my confidence from playing sports because it shifts your focus from what your body looks like to what your body can do for you. That's what we all should be doing. It shouldn't be about looking perfect.

Women's tennis has been around for a very long time - we're talking about the 1800s. But women's soccer hasn't had such a long history, so now they're right at the beginning of really trying to make things equal. We need to continue not only to advocate for women but to have men advocating for women.

I don't have time for easy. Tennis is just hard.

The message I like to convey to women and girls across the globe is that there is no glass ceiling.

Right now, I'm at the top of the world in my game so my focus isn't on when I'm going to end. My focus is on playing the best tennis that I can, and there is no end to that.

Equality for men and women, across the world, not only in sports, is the goal. We obviously have a long way to go, but every little bit helps.

I believe that athletes - especially female athletes in the world's leading sport for women - should serve as role models.

I've learned you can always achieve more than you thought you could. There are moments when I've walked off the court, and I'm like, 'I don't know how I won that match.' It was actually impossible, but it happened, and then you realize that you can push yourself much further than you ever thought, and you can make the impossible happen.