The thing I love about Wisconsin is the people. We have such incredible people here. It's fun to recognize the incredible athletes and coaches and sponsors and people we have here tonight. But we also have incredible fans.
Sometimes we complain about being on the road all the time, from tournaments to exhibitions and sponsors' appearances, but really it's a doddle.
I wanted to be a professional motor racer. It was only due to lack of sponsors that I could not do it.
I know that when I'm standing alone below a thousand-foot wall, looking up and considering a climb, my sponsors are the furthest thing from my mind. If I'm going to take risks, they are going to be for myself - not for any company.
In climbing, sponsors typically support an athlete but provide very little direction, giving the climber free rein to follow his or her passion toward whatever is inspiring. It's a wonderful freedom, in many ways similar to that of an artist who simply lives his life and creates whatever moves him.
There's this company called Vega that sponsors us, and basically, what it is is a vegan health optimizer. But really it's a protein shake that has all the vitamins, all the enzymes, all the minerals, all the carbs, all the proteins... everything that you need to set yourself for the day.
We have an online clothing boutique called Pink Candy Boutique that we manage in the midst of all of this, and trying to bring in different types of sponsors into NASCAR.
It's important to understand that you have to dedicate time to your sponsors, to have relationships with the people and the media, but it is also hard when you are first coming up and your primary focus is on tennis.
I genuinely only want to work with people that I agree with on certain things. There were many sponsors I didn't want to work with because I didn't agree with their messages that they wanted to use me to convey.
I love working with sponsors.
