When you're young, you develop ways to win, and you think they will always work, but then you get to the top, competing against the other top athletes, and sometimes things don't work.
Of course, rivals do affect athletes mentally, but if you are competing with top-notch athletes, you will push each other, you will encourage each other.
I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.
In the last year I have gained a lot of experience because I have been playing against top players and realized what things to work on to get better. Top players basically tell you what your weaknesses are on the court.
I think sometimes, when you're on top and all you do is win, win, win, win, win, you get lazy and lose focus. When you lose it opens your eyes and you get serious. There is always a time when it is good to lose, at the right time for you.
I have a showroom where we experiment with twelve cakes. We develop sketches and ideas for cakes for the next season. We work with the top fashion designers to see what type of lace they are using or work with the top florist for us to be able to make various sugar roses or flowers.
On television, I have watched countless athletes from different countries, sports and Olympics stand proudly at the top of the podium and shed tears. They symbolized the Olympics for me because Olympic medals represent all of the hard work and sacrifices made by the athletes as well as the people who helped them reach the top of their sports.
When movies work or a TV series, when they really work, it's because of the collaborative effort. Competition is the death knell for anything, in my opinion. Especially in Hollywood. When actors are competing against each other, or when directors are competing against actors, it's usually the beginning of the end.
We want to challenge ourselves against the top teams in the world and are happy to be competing on so many fronts. And, personally, it's great for me to work with the quality of player we have here at Chelsea.
As much as you may be sitting in the top five or the top 10, sometimes you just don't get that chance to get to the top.
Chelsea is a fantastic place for young kids. They develop you, work you hard, and you can see they have top-class talent all around the world.
There is always this perception that you want to shoot for the top, but I think there's this great place to shoot for the middle and get consistent work and try different things and do the work you want to do with the kind of people you want to do it with.
Stars are always bigger. They bring the audience to the theatres. More than that, they do a lot of work in a film, and they are always on top. I am in no way competing with them.
Nobody's a natural. You work to get good and then work to get better. It's hard to stay on top.
One minute you're a developing athlete trying to get to the top, then the next minute you do well and win a medal somewhere, and then it's all foisted on you. You never know when it's going to happen. You don't think about the media side of things when you're a young athlete trying to do well.
I think the first step is definitely Top 5. From there, you can sort of see the end, and that's the top. In order to do that, you need to win Slams and big tournaments. That's just proven. There is no other way.
It's difficult to get in the top 15, top 20. You have to work for it.