132 Famous Quotes By John McEnroe

The perception is I didn't get along with umpires, obviously, and I didn't, on the court. But off the court, we had a good vibe.

  

I don't take myself as seriously as I did when I was playing, and it works, and I think people see the self-deprecation in my commentary.

Think

  

If you yell at your box, I'm not really sure it's something where it should be a penalty. It seems like you hurt yourself.

Like

  

There's always a concern when you play the week before a major. That's not the easiest time for a scheduler or a promoter, I would think.

Think

  

Women have it better in tennis than any other sport, but you shouldn't push them to play more than they're capable of playing.

  

In general, people are administered drugs too readily.

  

I would not have an event before the majors. I would build them up. It very rarely happens that a player plays the week before, wins the event, and then goes on to win the slam.

  

If you look at the top 100 players, you would see that the great majority of them have had at least a couple of surgeries. That tells me that we have to protect the players.

  

I would put tiebreakers in the fifth set, no question about it.

  

Do women golfers say they could go out and beat Tiger Woods?

  

I've seen tennis clubs close in Manhattan and garages put up in their place, and I'd sure like to be part of reversing that trend.

Like

  

I had a harsh lesson in 1996, when I lost four times to Andres Gomez on clay.

  

I used to get two racquets a year. As you can imagine, they didn't last me too long.

  

Of course for your main rivals, you're going to get extra motivated for it, particularly if you haven't played him for a long time.

  

I can't speak for other people, but I still hate losing. When I did lose, I found it easier to yell than to cry. Guys aren't supposed to cry, are they?

  

As I got older and started moving up the ranking, the matches got more important, and my emotions ratcheted up. I guess I hid my real feelings behind the anger.

  

I was a Yankee fan until 1981. That was the year the Yankees were two up on the Dodgers and lost four straight. And George Steinbrenner apologized to the city.

  

I like John McCain, or he seems like a cool guy in a lot of ways. I don't agree with a lot of his policies, but he still seems like a cool guy.

Like

  

I'm going to vote for Obama. I'm going for the change.

  

Nadal is one of the great champions - a class act.

  

I thought doubles was a good way for me to practice and get some reps in - I didn't like to train in the gym as much as players these days.

  

Kyrgios has got to look in the mirror if he wants to become a top player and win Grand Slams.

  

You can't give away points and games against someone like Murray. You're not going to make it to the top with that kind of effort.

Like

  

I'm 56 years old. I like to get out on the court. I continue to try to play the best I can. Obviously, I'm nowhere near where I was when half this age. But I can still hit a pretty decent ball.

  

Sometimes my negativity worked to my advantage, and early in my career, it got me going. But you need to understand that you're not just fighting opponents, you're also fighting yourself.

  

I got a lot of publicity, but it steamrolled. Event organizers weren't used to that kind of behavior, so later, they tightened the rules.

  

I did a terrible job of composing myself. I was a spoiled brat from Long Island who benefitted from the energy of New York.

  

Look at Becker and Djokovic. If you look at Novak's record since Boris has been there, it's been phenomenal.

  

If you really want to get it more exciting, no linesmen. And have the players call their lines. That would make the game more exciting, I promise you. It would be awesome.

  

I can't advocate people not liking each other. But... I'd prefer it.

  

I always got along with Borg, who was my greatest rival. People like to see me and Connors, me and Lendl, go at it. We didn't like each other.

Like

  

Nick Kyrgios, if you don't want to be a professional tennis player, do something else.

  

I can tell you from experience that when you get that pent-up and crazed, it can be distracting.

Experience

  

You look at a guy like Michael Jordan: I can't believe there will be other basketball players like him.

Like

  

Why don't they go back to wood racquets? Then we would see the best tennis to be played.

  

I was always taught that you needed to be intense and never lose your focus.

Never

  

What made my matches against Borg and Connors interesting was, comparing it to boxing, it was like a puncher and a counter-puncher.

Like

  

I'm sure a lot of players say it, but winning is almost so you don't lose. The thrill of winning is not as great as the pain of losing.

  

The sting of losing is bad.

  

If they think I'm better at commentating than I was as a player, then I must be pretty darned good at commentating.

Think

  

Sometimes you get hungrier when you taste it.

  

Roland Garros is the only one of the four majors that is 15 days, and that is too long.

  

Nadal and Roger Federer have great respect for each other. I think Novak Djokovic gets under those two guys' skin a little bit, and maybe they don't want to admit it, and I think that's, in a way, healthy.

  

I didn't get along with most of the players I played against, but the one guy I did get along with was my greatest rival, so it can be done.

  

I happened to be one of those guys who doesn't play much golf.

  

It's ironic - people used to want to suspend me and talk about how bad my behaviour was, but now they like it when I shout and scream.

  

If people do things without thinking them through, that rubs me up the wrong way.

  

I don't think enough players channel the energy of the crowd. If it's done properly, and you don't let anger overwhelm and distract you, it's like a shot of adrenaline in the arm, and it gets the crowd pumped up.

Like , Think

  

I'd never left America until I was 18.

Never

  

There's a certain beauty and majesty to Wimbledon. The elegance, the way the grass looks on TV.

  

I remember when I was younger taking more pride in Wimbledon than the French. That and the U.S. Open - they were the ones I wanted to win.

  

I went on safari in South Africa just after apartheid had ended.

  

I've never seen a good tennis movie. They all were terrible.

Never

  

I can barely remember what I was like 36 years ago when I was 21 years old.

Like

  

What I think is frustrating for Americans is that it feels like more was going to change with Obama.

Think

  

I would have thought that a woman would have become president before a black man.

  

I won't admit to having a poster of Borg on my bedroom door. But I certainly found him to be someone who got me way more into tennis.

  

Tennis was a white, upper-class sport, and I wanted it to be treated like other sports were.

  

I am someone who gets pretty worked up.

  

I'm generally happy, although my kids and wife may sometimes argue with that.

  

I thought if I looked back and evaluated my life, it would help me in the future.

  

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

  

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.

  

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?

  

The only thing 'championship' about Wimbledon is its prestige.

  

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

  

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.

Think

  

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

Me

  

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

Think

  

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.

Like

  

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

Like

  

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.

  

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

  

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.

  

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.

  

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.

  

I'll let the racket do the talking.

  

You're asking too much of the women. They shouldn't be playing as many events as men. If tennis is best served by women playing events with men, so be it.

  

My best tennis at my peak was when I played a lot of matches.

  

The mistake, if I made one, in the late 1980s, was thinking I needed to change my game.

  

If you're out there and things are going badly, are you going to cry or break down?

  

It's only human nature to want to know what you can do on your own or with someone else.

  

When I walk out there on court, I become a maniac... Something comes over me, man.

Me

  

It seems like the richer you are, the more chance you have of paying less tax.

Like

  

No other athlete in any sport has ever had to go through what I have to.

  

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.'

Like

  

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.

  

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.

  

When I was 15 and playing in Kalamazoo, I ran into a light pole on the side of the court and was knocked out for a little while - when I woke up, I was seeing stars!

  

I grew up watching Dr. J, and I was like, 'Oh my God, this guy is the greatest basketball player I ever saw.'

Like

  

Jack Nicholson didn't get anything until he was in his thirties. You have to persevere and put yourself in positions, and sooner or later, you will break through.

  

I'm a tell-it-like-it-is kind of person; I don't like being misled or someone not telling the truth. That upsets me.

Like

  

Sitting there clapping and smiling... it's difficult. You're like, 'Don't worry about it, you just double faulted, you just played a really dumb point. Keep positive.' Then more clapping. That would annoy me as a player.

  

I am finicky about making sure my sneakers are pretty tight. It is almost like a superstition for me.

  

London is great, but New York is the greatest city in the world.

  

Everybody loves success, but they hate successful people.

  

I like to be close to water and the ocean, particularly. I love to get out and body surf. I like mountain biking, too.

  

I'd love to see all the guys play their best because I think it's better for tennis.

Think

  

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

  

You have to keep persevering. An actor goes to a lot of auditions and doesn't get the part.