JUICY QUOTES -- PAUL FEIN

People in both the countries are mad over cricket and if cricket is resumed we would be more close to each other and bloodshed would be avoided.

- Fazal Mahmood, who took 12 wickets in Pakistan's first ever victory over India on the tour, saying the resumption of matches after a three-year hiatus could help heal the rift between the two nations, who have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

Obviously, I thought I won the fight. I didn't think it was close.

- Oscar De La Hoya, after losing an unanimous but close (all the judges scored it 15-13) decision to Sugar Shane Mosley in their World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association super welterweight title fight.

This is terrible. This is not what you want boxing to be. De La Hoya won that fight.

- Former heavyweight champion George Foreman, an HBO boxing analyst, decrying the judges' scoring for the Mosely-De La Hoya fight.

I don't think you could have written a script any better.

- Andy Roddick, 21, after winning his first Grand Slam title at the US Open, on the passing of the torch in American tennis symbolised by the retirement ceremonies of Pete Sampras and Michael Chang at Flushing Meadows.

My only drug is work. I have worked really hard for the last year� sometimes it made me cry, I pushed myself so hard.�

It's not just tennis anymore. It's much more than that. It's gone more into shorter skirts, who looks good, who doesn't look good. You shouldn't overexpose this. You should have a look at some of the athleticism and power we have, not just the looks. I think people should stop looking for a babe.

- Jelena Dokic, a blonde and buxom babe.

I saw Lleyton beat Gustavo Kuerten in Brazil when Kuerten was the best clay courter in the world, and he was playing in a hostile environment, but today has to be up with the greatest Davis Cup performances by an Australian ever.

- Captain John Fitzgerald, after Lleyton Hewitt - down 7-5, 6-2, 5-3 against Wimbledon champion Roger Federer - rallied to win to clinch Australia's semifinal victory over Switzerland in Melbourne.

The feeling I had out there on centre court when I was serving for the match, you just want to box that up and keep it forever. It's the most electric feeling you can ever have. This beats the hell out of winning the US Open and Wimbledon.

- Lleyton Hewitt, on his spectacular 5-7, 6-2, 7-6, 7-5, 6-1 comeback triumph over Roger Federer, who had previously won 31 straight sets in Davis Cup.

I can walk, I swim, I go skiing, and I will complete my vision by competing seriously.

- Alex Zanardi, a two-time CART champion who lost both legs in a crash in 2001, will drive a specially prepared BMW 3201 in the Oct. 19 final Italian round of the FIA European Touring Car championships at Monza.

Being Open champion is like being called Mr. President x after you've left the White House; I'll be an Open champion until the day I die and there's a lot of great players out there who can't say that.

- Ben Curtis, the shock 2003 British Open champion, unconcerned that some critics may dismiss him as a "one-hit wonder."

It's a very natural Australian thing to do� there seems to be some debate as to who started it and who said what but anybody who says something about somebody's wife who's had cancer, that's pretty bad and I can understand a man defending his wife. I would, I'm sure you would.

- Australian Prime Minister John Howard, on Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath's foul-mouthed rage at West Indian batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan during the fourth Test in Antigua.

I can only speak by example - when Michael had his greatest pressure: gambling. When there were charges levelled against him, he stepped into an even greater role in the basketball club and played to a higher level. And I expect Kobe to do the same thing.

- Los Angeles Laker coach Phil Jackson, referring to Michael Jordan, whom he coached in Chicago, when asked whether Kobe Bryant's legal problems will affect Bryant's play and separate him from his teammates.

House slaves. Pawns in the do-nothing generation emphasising athleticism while everyone else runs the damn world.

- Retired pro football great Jim Brown, now an outspoken community activist and head of the Amer-I-Can movement, denouncing today's apathetic athletes.

We don't need any more black basketball players. We need black teachers and black fathers willing to take care of their children.

- Jim Brown.

We do not want to support a side that goes and plays in a country with the sort of regime that is reviled not just by this company but by many in the country. To do so would be abhorrent.

- Ian MacLaurin, chairman of Vodafone, one of English cricket's leading sponsors, warning that it may withdraw its �3 million ($7.8m) a year backing if England go ahead with their planned tour of Zimbabwe in 2004.

This isn't a case of lip service, more a genuine response to continued poor on-field behaviour around the world. Australia rightfully wants to be seen as a leader in this area.

It is important to realise that tennis is not the only thing that matters in life.

- Tennis glamour girl Anna Kournikova, plagued by a chronic back condition that has limited her to just six WTA Tour matches this year, saying she will play pro tennis only as long as she's having fun.