"Hey, I didn't win. I would have liked it to be different. But, unfortunately, I don't have a time machine, so I cannot reverse this loss. If any of you have one, please let me know." - VENUS WILLIAMS on time-travel after her straight-sets loss to world number three ANA IVANOVIC .
"It's just an honour for me to be compared with him, and that's all. I'm not flying on the court like him, but I try to fly." - Frenchman JO-WILFRIED TSONGA asked for the umpteenth time this fortnight at Melbourne Park on his physical resemblance to boxing idol MUHAMMAD ALI.
"It also happens to be Sir Don's home ground so I think that it was a tribute to Sir Don." - SACHIN TENDULKAR after scoring a century in the fourth test at the Adelaide Oval, the home cricket ground of Sir Donald Bradman.
"Federer is Federer. He can play at this level and better. It is difficult to compare but some of (Tsonga's tennis) tonight was unbelievable." - RAFAEL NADAL after TSONGA smashed the Spaniard 6-2 6-3 6-3 in their semi-final at the Australian Open.
"I wanted to withdraw but it was not fair, you know, for the crowd. It's a semi-final so I played how much I could to finish the match." - vanquished Serb JELENA JANKOVIC was so close to forfeiting her semi-final against MARIA SHARAPOVA with a back injury.
"She should get on with tennis and stop whingeing." - SHARAPOVA post-match after waiting courtside while JANKOVIC was having a medical time-out.
"If you train for three weeks with Nuremberg or with Karlsruhe, I have to be very honest, I still think that's better than playing A-League games." - new Socceroos coach PIM VERBEEK's unflatteringassessment of the domestic football competition when he announced the squad for their first Asian world cup qualifier against Qatar in Melbourne on February 6.
"I was a bit disappointed, he probably hit my best ball for six!" - humbled Australian spinner BRAD HOGG on TENDULKAR after the first day of the fourth test in Adelaide.
"I think it's easily within reason." - TIGER WOODS on a possible grand slam of golf's four major tournaments in a calendar year.
