Mcenroe Quotes & Sayings

My greatest strength is that I have no weaknesses. — John McEnroe

We should reach out to people to try to go after the fans the way other sports do. Because we can't just depend on the fact that it is a great game. — John McEnroe

I am not a monster. I'm not all bad. Maybe 10 percent. I think I'm 90 percent good. — John McEnroe

He [Roger Federer] is the greatest natural talent in tennis I've ever seen. I love to watch the guy play, he's an awesome talent — John McEnroe

John McEnroe ... was arguably the best serve-and-volley man of all time, but then McEnroe was an exception to pretty much every predictive norm there was. At his peak (say 1980 to 1984), he was the greatest tennis player who ever lived-the most talented, the most beautiful, the most tormented: a genius. For me, watching McEnroe don a blue polyester blazer and do stiff lame truistic color commentary for TV is like watching Faulkner do a Gap ad. — David Foster Wallace

I sometimes rented a car and drove from event to event in Europe; a road trip was a great escape from the day-to-day anxieties of playing, and it kept me from getting too lost in the tournament fun house with its courtesy cars, caterers, locker room attendants, and such - all amenities that create a firewall between players and what you might call the 'real' world - you know, where you may have to read a map, ask a question in a foreign tongue, find a restaurant and read the menu posted in the window to make sure you're not about to walk into a joint that serves only exotic reptile meat. — Patrick McEnroe

To be involved in a senior tournament back in the States is very satisfying. — John McEnroe

Be happy. If you're successful but unhappy, that's emptiness. — John McEnroe

I think it's the mark of a great player to be confident in tough situations. — John McEnroe

The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose. Life is a learning process and you have to try to learn what's best for you. Let me tell you, life is not fun when you're banging your head against a brick wall all the time. — John McEnroe

You can tell when someone has been on steroids A guy bulks up, has a new body and never gets tired ... You see these guys or girls who come onto the tour talking about their new training programs and their diets where they eat this or that new thingbut they'll never tell you about the drugs they took. — John McEnroe

Being a celebrity is like being raped, and there's absolutely nothing a player can do about it. — Patrick McEnroe

John McEnroe looks as if he is serving round the edge of an imaginary building. — Clive James

Borg's won Wimbledon four straight times and out there he has just lost an 18-16 tie breaker. You'd think maybe once he'd let up and say forget it. But oh, no way. — John McEnroe

I think the players, I put in the book for example that we should go back to wood rackets, probably they laughed at me, I'm a dinosaur, but I think that you see these great players, have even more variety and you see more strategy, there'd be more subtlety. — John McEnroe

Tennis has to be very careful.Not everyone is a computer, it is very good we have John McEnroe. I hope we have a couple more. — Boris Becker

I'm an American. You can't go on where you were born. If you do then John McEnroe would be a German. — Martina Navratilova

If, in a few months, I'm only number 8 or number 10 in the world, I'll have to look at what off-the-court work I can do. I will need to do something if I want to be number 1. — John McEnroe

It would be a nice place if you took all the people out of the city. — John McEnroe

I know being a linesman is a thankless job, especially with guys like me around. — John McEnroe

I'd like to be the commissioner of tennis, but do I want to get into politics? Sometimes I have delusions of grandeur that that would be an interesting, good thing. I'm talking about actual politics, like being a congressman, but then I see how unbelievably nasty it really is, and maybe I'm not quite knowledgeable enough to actually do it. — John McEnroe

Bush is an idiot and he's President, so anything's possible — John McEnroe

I want to be remembered as a great player, but I guess it will be as a player who got angry on a tennis court. — John McEnroe

The only thing 'championship' about Wimbledon is its prestige. — John McEnroe

One thing about the fantasy dinner party idea that no one considers is whether these people are going to get on. I would say John McEnroe and Ian McEwan, but what would they have to say to each other? — Robert Webb

The good part of having six kids is, there's always one who wants to hug you and say, 'Daddy, I love you.' — John McEnroe

This [defeat] has taught me a lesson, but I'm not sure what it is. — John McEnroe

There's too much money and too many nice guys around. — John McEnroe

As they say in sports, the older you get, the better you used to be. — John McEnroe

McEnroe has got to sit down and work out where he stands. — Fred Perry

I'm John McEnroe-like. I'm coming forward every opportunity I get. My wingspan covers some ground at the net. My serve is OK. I can move it around enough. My groundstrokes are good enough to hang in a rally with a good player. But generally, my goal is to put away a point quickly. — Matt Kuchar

Look at guys like Larry Bird and George Brett and John McEnroe; that's what they did in their careers. They all wanted to be the guy under the microscope late in the game or late in the match. So you just take on that know-how that that's part of your responsibility, and you learn that's what makes it exciting. That's what makes it fun! — Wayne Gretzky

If you want to be a tennis player, then mould yourself on Roger Federer. I won three Wimbledon titles and I wish I could play like him. — John McEnroe

John McEnroe's so good. Against him, all you can do is shake hands and take a shower. — Tomas Smid

It's one thing if you live in London and you're rooting for Chelsea or you're in New York and you love the Giants or Jets and no matter who's on the team you're into it. It's different in tennis; you're sort of your own guy, so you have to reach out and grab a person in a different way. — John McEnroe

John McEnroe is the most honest and real person I have ever interviewed. — Brian Kilmeade

Things slow down, the ball seems a lot bigger and you feel like you have more time. Everything computes - you have options, but you always take the right one. — John McEnroe

I have ... had a disturbing dream in which I break through a cave wall near Nag Hammadi and discover urns full of ancient Coptic scrolls. As I unfurl the first scroll, a subscription card to some Gnostic exercise magazine flutters out. — Colin McEnroe

I'll let the racket do the talking. — John McEnroe

I never suspected that we or any one person or program can create Serena Williams or John McEnroe or Pete Sampras. — Patrick McEnroe

We made a successful, last-minute effort to get the French Open many years ago, when the USA network bailed on it. I remember, four of us jumped on a plane on the spur of the moment to cover it. I think we had someone draw up a sign (by hand) that we could hold up in front of the camera to tell viewers that it was ESPN coverage. — Patrick McEnroe

Guys like John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Stefan Edberg were also very good grass court players. — Richard Krajicek

Believe it or not, I was a pretty shy youngster growing up. — John McEnroe

A refrigerator runs by converting the dust behind it into a peculiar mutant, reptilian substance. — Colin McEnroe

Tennis is a funny game; unbelievable highs and the lows are just as low. — John McEnroe

But these guys learn so fast now, they sort of soak up the information, they're fearless. Those are the guys who learn from their mistakes and come back strong the next time. — John McEnroe

I have never seen someone point after point that just gives it everything. — John McEnroe

We all choke. Winners know how to handle choking better than losers. — John McEnroe

The way I look at the top five, (Rod) Laver, (Roger) Federer, myself, Borg and (Ivan) Lendl. I think those five guys dominated their generations better than anyone. Maybe Roger will dominate better than any one of the other four. Maybe I put Andre (Agassi) as kind of six through 10 with, you know, (John) McEnroe and (Jimmy) Connors, kind of those guys. That's kind of how I see it. — Pete Sampras

Do you have any problems, other than that you're unemployed, a moron, and a dork? — John McEnroe

I'd like to think I could have and should have won more, but that's not the point. And I was at the point where I was playing great tennis in the mid 80s - the type of tennis people hadn't seen before - and I was very proud of that. — John McEnroe

I had a similar year back in 1984 when I felt like I couldn't lose. — John McEnroe

If Roger stopped right now and never won another match, to me he'd already be one of the greatest players to ever play the game. To me, he's the greatest all around talent that I've ever seen. — John McEnroe

The Benson and Hedges Cup was won by McEnroe ... he was as charming as always, which means that he was as charming as a dead mouse in a loaf of bread. — Clive James

I haven't seen a professional player come out of New York in over 20 years since my brother Patrick came out. Blake spent a few years in Harlem, but he moved to Connecticut when he was a kid. — John McEnroe

An idea has no worth at all without believable characters to implement it; a plot without characters is like a tennis court without players. Daffy Duck is to a Buck Rogers story what John McEnroe was to tennis. Personality. That is the key, the drum, the fife. Forget the plot. — Chuck Jones

I wrote to Mr. McEnroe, Senior. I said: "Here is the sentence once written by the immortal Bobby Jones. I thought you might like to have it done in needlepoint and mounted in a suitable frame to hang over Little John's bed. It says, The rewards of golf - and of life, too, I expect - are worth very little if you don't play the game by the etiquette as well as by the rules." I never heard from Mr. McEnroe, Senior. I can only conclude that the letter went astray. — Alistair Cooke

There's something deeply satisfying when it succeeds, but I'm not going to do another book just to put my name on something and make some money if it's not something I deeply care about. — John McEnroe

It's been predictable, in the sense of 'expect the unexpected'. — John McEnroe

Being on tour sends me crazy, I drink too much and out comes the John Mcenroe in me. — Chrissie Hynde

Well I think that's probably one of a few, where I grew up in the City of New York, it's got a lot of energy, my parents are Irish-American so there was a bit of yelling going on in my house but it seemed normal. — John McEnroe

The greatest compliment I ever got was when people called me an artist, and I understand that solo aspect of being an artist, when you're in there by yourself, trying to do something great, and people who don't even know you can come up and just dump on you. — John McEnroe

That's one of the best sets I've seen him play, although I should preface that by saying I haven't seen him play before. — John McEnroe

I think I have a newfound respect for what my parents did, to create two players - one who was really good and another who was pretty good. — Patrick McEnroe

What is the single most important quality in a tennis champion? I would have to say desire, staying in there and winning matches when you are not playing that well. — John McEnroe

Let's hope his nerves will run through his veins. — John McEnroe

It means a lot to be back in New York. Particularly since one of the last senior event scheduled in the States was supposed to be here in New York. We were supposed to play in Central Park right after 9-11 and when 9-11 happened obviously things changed. — John McEnroe

You cannot be serious! — John McEnroe

I believe there's only one autobiography you can do. — John McEnroe

Maybe I should have played two more Australians and two less Davis Cups? I could have had more majors and still have three Davis Cups when most people don't have one. — John McEnroe

When you ask people about guys they didn't like because they were aggressive, there's me, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors; not too many names would come up. — Pete Rose

Instant replay is going to be awesome. For too long, tennis has been stuck in its traditions, which is part of its strength as a game. But you have to be able to change some things and get fans interested. — Patrick McEnroe

John McEnroe has hair like badly turned broccoli. — Clive James

No one cares about the Davis Cup. How many people know I won five Davis Cups and seven majors, but that I rarely played the Australian Open? — John McEnroe

Equipment's the biggest change. And the guys have been getting bigger, stronger, more athletic - so the game has become more of a track meet instead of a tennis match, in a sense. — John McEnroe

McEnroe respects one guy
himself, and that's it. — Luke Jensen

You cannot be serious. You CANNOT BE SERIOUS! — John McEnroe

Professionalism in tennis ... only resulted in making billionaires out of rude children, producing an onslaught of moody defectors, and a lot of guys with hair that looks as if bats slept in it ... Meanwhile, my head swims with the thought that I have watched tennis progress from Don Budge and Alice Marble to Farrah Fawcett becoming John McEnroe's mother-in-law. — Dan Jenkins

When I was eight and a half, my parents moved to a part of Queens where there was a club nearby. We joined, and if you believe in someone up above, I think I was meant to play tennis. — John McEnroe

As a kid I loved John McEnroe. They called me Mac because, while everyone else liked Borg, I was crazy about McEnroe. I tried wearing headbands and sweatbands, and whooping at people. It didn't quite work. — Sachin Tendulkar

When I was 25, if you'd have said I was going to be a commentator, that would seem like, 'Oh, my God. That's a huge step down.' — John McEnroe

I didn't serve and volley until I got to Wimbledon in '77. — John McEnroe

This taught me a lesson, but I'm not quite sure what it is. — John McEnroe