Mcenroe Tennis Quotes & Sayings

We all have thoughts that we would never, ever vocalise. And people who say they don't are liars. — L. H. Cosway

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

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

I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted. — Jack Kerouac

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

The jurisdiction of a good man extends to the end of the world. — Terry Pratchett

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's what his stare has been saying to me all this time: 'At least I galloped - when did you? — Peter Shaffer

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

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

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

That's what happens when people get too serious. Feelings get hurt. Hearts get broken. Some people never learn. Don't get serious. It's my number one rule. — Amy Plum

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

Know that true change is demonstrated only by your actions around everyone, not just certain people. — Tanya R. Liverman

Books are like confort food without the calories — Elizabeth Berg

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

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

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

Slavery is impossible without the consent of the slave. Fear imprisons the mind, Faith. You either accept this prison by following the rules made by others. Or you break free, by making your own. — Christofer Emgard

It is an accepted commonplace in psychology that the spiritual level of people acting as a crowd is far lower than the mean of each individual's intelligence or morality. — Christian Lous Lange

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

This doesn't mean abandoning our values and ideals; wherever we can, it's in our interest to help foster democracy through the diplomatic and economic resources at our disposal. — Barack Obama

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

I have the window seat. In the two seats beside me are two old ladies, old women, each with a knitted cardigan, each with yellowy-white hair and thick-lensed glasses with a chain for around the neck, each with a desiccated mouth lipsticked bright red with bravado... They seem to me amazingly carefree. They have saved up for this trip and they are damn well going to enjoy it, despite the arthritis of one, the swollen legs of the other. They're rambunctious, they're full of beans; they're tough as thirteen, they're innocent and dirty, they don't give a hoot. Responsibilities have fallen away from them, obligations, old hates and grievances; now for a short while they can play again like children, but this time without the pain. — Margaret Atwood

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

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

You are as strong as your soul. — Lailah Gifty Akita

To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them. — Charles De Montesquieu