The "Selected Quote" box on the Portal page is randomly generated with the Random Portal Component template. To add a quote to be randomly selected, you must:
Portal:Tennis/Selected quote/1
| “ | He's like a cat with seven lives...Nine lives? How many do they have? [Questioner: Nine.]. Yeah, I thought so. Seven would have been easy. | ” |
| — Roger Federer, on Lleyton Hewitt after his semifinal win at Cincinnati Masters, 2007 | ||
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| “ | Previously I always thought it was just tactical and technique, but every match has become almost mental and physical—I try to push myself to move well. I try to push myself not to get upset and stay positive, and that's what my biggest improvement is over all those years. Under pressure I can see things very clear. | ” |
| — Roger Federer, At a post match press conference after winning the 2008 Dubai Tennis Championships | ||
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| “ | You cannot be serious! | ” |
| — John McEnroe, directed at an umpire during a match at the 1981 Wimbledon. | ||
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| “ | Being second sucks. | ” |
| — Andre Agassi | ||
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| “ | It's shocking how little there is to do with tennis when you're just thinking about nothing except winning every point. | ” |
| — Andre Agassi | ||
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| “ | If you are playing bad you are going to lose here, on clay, on ice, or on the beach. | ” |
| — Rafael Nadal, preparing to play at the 2006 US Open | ||
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| “ | To be honest, I haven't felt at my best since this tournament began. I didn't feel good with the court or the balls. But those are excuses. You have to accept when you don't play well and somebody else does. | ” |
| — Rafael Nadal, after losing to James Blake at the US Open | ||
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| “ | Some folks call tennis a rich people’s sport or a white person’s game. I guess I started too early because I just thought it was something fun to do. Later, I discovered there was a lot of work to being good in tennis. You’ve got to make a lot of sacrifices and spend a lot of time if you really want to achieve with this sport, or in any sport, or in anything truly worthwhile. | ” |
| — Arthur Ashe | ||
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| “ | Today, I’d have lost even against my mother. | ” |
| — Gastón Gaudio, after losing to Nicolás Massú in the 2003 US Open | ||
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| “ | I know I play boring tennis, or "solid" as the euphemism is. | ” |
| — Sjeng Schalken, after winning a Davis Cup dead rubber against Canada's Simon Larose | ||
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| “ | Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row." | ” |
| — Vitas Gerulaitis, upon winning the 1979 Masters final after losing 16 previous times to Jimmy Connors | ||
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| “ | At least kiss me if you're gonna do me like that. | ” |
| — Jimmy Connors, to umpire after a call at 1991 US Open (vs Aaron Krickstein) | ||
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| “ | She thinks she's the f--ing Venus Williams, and she's not going to move out of the way. That's it. I'm sorry she feels that way. | ” |
| — Irina Spîrlea, after changeover collision, 1997 US Open | ||
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| “ | I can cry like Roger; it's just a shame I can't play like him. | ” |
| — Andy Murray, after losing to Roger Federer at the Australian Open | ||
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| “ | I finally feel like you guys can call me Aussie Kim, because I've won the title. | ” |
| — Kim Clijsters, after winning the 2011 Australian Open | ||
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| “ | We will celebrate on the streets of Belgrade, where else?! To the center [of the city], we’re going naked! | ” |
| — Novak Djokovic, after winning the 2010 Davis Cup | ||
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| “ | Sorry Pete, I tried to hold him off | ” |
| — Andy Roddick, after losing the 2009 Wimbledon Championships (said to Pete Sampras) | ||
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| “ | And I hope he's not angry, but I'd like to say to Roger that he can't win everything, sometimes somebody else has to win." | ” |
| — Novak Djokovic, after winning the 2007 Canada Masters beating Roger Federer | ||
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| “ | Tennis was considered as a girls' sport. And it still is. | ” |
| — Novak Djokovic, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno dated 12 March 2008 | ||
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| “ | I think the difference is based on the fact that his game is really a pain in the ass. | ” |
| — Gaël Monfils, after losing to Federer at the Quarterfinal of the 2009 French Open | ||
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| “ | I have two dreams. One is the U.S. Open. The other one is be like Roger. One is done. | ” |
| — Juan Martín Del Potro, during the 2009 US Open trophy presentation. | ||
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| “ | It's a nice thing to remember. If I had played bad, I would had to live with it for the rest of my life thinking "how can I be such a donkey, there's the opportunity and I'm not live up to it!" | ” |
| — Balázs Taróczy, in 2005 recalling his 1985 Wimbledon Championships doubles title. | ||
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| “ | This idea sounds like a carnival joke. We could nominate a pop group, and if they sing in the breaks we'll draw more spectators too. | ” |
| — Dick Hordorff, Rainer Schüttler's coach in 2002 reacting on Stich's idea to call back retired Becker to the Davis Cup for popularity reasons. | ||
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| “ | If we had played in Sydney I would have already sent him to pick banana in the second set | ” |
| — Todd Woodbridge, commenting on his 4th rubber defeat against Hungary in the 1995 World Group Play-offs | ||
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| “ | If I never win another match I don't care. Whatever I do in my life, wherever I go I'm always going to be a Wimbledon champion | ” |
| — Goran Ivanišević | ||
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| “ | The next point -- that's all you must think about. | ” |
| — Rod Laver | ||
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| “ | Whoever said, ‘It’s not whether you win or lose that counts,’ probably lost. | ” |
| — Martina Navratilova | ||
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| “ | Experience is a great advantage. The problem is that when you get the experience, you're too damned old to do anything about it. | ” |
| — Jimmy Connors | ||
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| “ | I didn't start a war. Nobody died. I only lost a tennis match, nothing more. | ” |
| — Boris Becker, after losing to Peter Doohan in the second round of the 1987 Wimbledon Championships | ||
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| “ | My goal one day is to be in the same sentence as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. | ” |
| — Pete Sampras, after winning the 1993 US Open | ||
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| “ | True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. | ” |
| — Arthur Ashe | ||
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| “ | Tennis taught me so many lessons in life. One of the things it taught me is that every ball that comes to me, I have to make a decision. I have to accept responsibility for the consequences every time I hit a ball. | ” |
| — Billie Jean King | ||
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| “ | Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquility. | ” |
| — Billie Jean King | ||
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| “ | Tennis’s beauty’s infinite roots are self-competitive. You compete with your own limits to transcend the self in imagination and execution. | ” |
| — David Foster Wallace, in Infinite Jest | ||
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| “ | I have no sense of humor about losing. | ” |
| — Rafael Nadal, in Rafa | ||
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| “ | What matters isn't how well you play when you're playing well. What matters is how well you play when you're playing badly. | ” |
| — Martina Navratilova, in The Winning Way | ||
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| “ | The metaphysical explanation is that Roger Federer is one of those rare, preternatural athletes who appear to be exempt, at least in part, from certain physical laws. | ” |
| — David Foster Wallace, on Roger Federer in Federer as Religious Experience | ||
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| “ | If you can keep playing tennis when somebody is shooting a gun down the street, that's concentration. | ” |
| — Serena Williams | ||
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| “ | I'm a tennis player, not a Negro tennis player. | ” |
| — Althea Gibson | ||
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| “ | In sports, you simply aren't considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully. Winning it once can be a fluke; winning it twice proves you are the best. | ” |
| — Althea Gibson | ||
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| “ | Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. | ” |
| — Arthur Ashe | ||
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| “ | In the fifth set it is not anymore about tennis. It is about nerves. | ” |
| — Boris Becker | ||
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| “ | Sure, on a given day I could beat him. But it would have to be a day he had food poisoning. | ” |
| — Mel Purcell, after losing to Ivan Lendl in under an hour. | ||
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| “ | The trouble with me is that every match I play against five opponents: umpire, crowd, ball boys, court, and myself. | ” |
| — Goran Ivanišević, at the 2000 Samsung Open | ||
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| “ | I have always considered tennis as a combat in an arena between two gladiators who have their racquets and their courage as their weapons. | ” |
| — Yannick Noah | ||
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| “ | I hate to lose more than I love to win. | ” |
| — Jimmy Connors | ||
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| “ | Don't give the artist a canvas to work upon. | ” |
| — Jim Courier, advice to John Isner before playing Roger Federer in the 2012 Davis Cup match. | ||
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| “ | I’m not the next Kournikova—I want to win matches! | ” |
| — Maria Sharapova | ||
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| “ | New Yorkers love it when you spill your guts out there. Spill your guts at Wimbledon and they make you stop and clean it up. | ” |
| — Jimmy Connors, commenting on the difference between the US Open and Wimbledon. | ||
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| “ | Năstase does not have a brain; he has a bird fluttering around in his head. | ” |
| — Ion Țiriac | ||
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| “ | If you see a tennis player who looks as if he is working very hard, then that means he isn't very good. | ” |
| — Helen Wills | ||
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| “ | I often surprise myself. You can't plan some shots that go in, not unless you're on marijuana, and the only grass I'm partial to is Wimbledon's. | ” |
| — Rod Laver | ||
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| “ | Thank God I don't have to play me today! | ” |
| — Fred Perry, on entering the locker room at Wimbledon. | ||
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| “ | We were beaten by two babies and a fox. | ” |
| — Tony Trabert, after the 1953 Davis Cup Challenge Round, alluding to teenagers Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall and their coach Harry Hopman. | ||
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| “ | The comparing and rating of athletes who were not contemporaries and did not encounter one another on important occasions is a trap in which no tennis reporter of experience should be caught. | ” |
| — Al Laney, in his book 'Covering the Court – A Fifty-Year Love affair with the Game of Tennis'. | ||
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| “ | If I didn't play tennis, I would probably have to see a psychiatrist. | ” |
| — Arthur Ashe | ||
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| “ | The fascination of playing is paramount, the victory a minor consideration. | ” |
| — Bill Tilden | ||
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| “ | Playing against Don Budge was like playing against a concrete wall. There was nothing to attack. There was no weakness. When he was in his prime, no player, past or present, could have beaten him. | ” |
| — Sidney Wood, on Don Budge in a 1960 sport magazine article. | ||
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| “ | The most devastating and impressive player I have ever seen. | ” |
| — Bobby Riggs, on Don Budge in a 1960 sport magazine article. | ||
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| “ | Mixed doubles are always starting divorces. If you play with you wife, you fight with her. If you play with somebody else, she fights with you. | ” |
| — Sidney Wood, on the perils of mixed doubles matches. | ||
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| “ | I feel like dog trainer who teach dog manners and graces and just when you think dog knows how should act with nice qualities, dog make big puddle and all is wasted. | ” |
| — Ion Țiriac, on being Ilie Năstase's coach. | ||
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| “ | They should send Borg away to another planet. We play tennis. He plays something else. | ” |
| — Ilie Năstase, on Björn Borg. | ||
Portal:Tennis/Selected quote/63
| “ | When Lew's game was at its peak, nobody could touch him. | ” |
| — Pancho Gonzales, on Lew Hoad. | ||
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| “ | Gonzales was my toughest opponent , a notch above Lew Hoad, but Lew is the greatest when he is on. | ” |
| — Ken Rosewall, comparing his rivals Pancho Gonzales and Lew Hoad. | ||
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| “ | In my opinion, we had Vines, who for one year was the best player ever, and we have Budge, who for the best three years of his life, nobody could hold a candle to. For the best five-year period I give it to Jack Kramer. The best ten-year period I give it to Laver. The best twenty-year period, I give to Gonzales. The best twenty-five to thirty-year period I give it to Rosewall. | ” |
| — Bobby Riggs, ranking the all-time greats of the game. | ||
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| “ | The tour is something inside me....I suffer when I lose but I want to be where the show is. I know people say I should retire, but what do I do then? To tell me I must retire tomorrow is like saying I must die tomorrow. And I don't want to die. | ” |
| — Ilie Năstase, on life on the tour (1981). | ||
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| “ | I was in the locker room recently with five top ten players. Not one word was said in twenty minutes. As I walked out, I said, "It was a pleasure talking with you fellows". | ” |
| — Jimmy Connors, in 1994. | ||
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| “ | You live and die by those numbers. For some people, your whole identity is your ranking. I once heard someone ask a player, 'How are you?' He answered, 'I'm No.29 this week.' Not 'I'm happy' or 'Im depressed' or 'I'm making it day to day.' Just 'I'm No. 29', like that said it all. | ” |
| — Bill Scanlon, on computer rankings, in his 1983 book 'Short Circuit'. | ||
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| “ | You can find out anything you want to know about a person by putting him on Centre Court. | ” |
| — John Newcombe, Wimbledon Champion, in 1995. | ||
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| “ | Wimbledon is like the Super Bowl, the World Series and the NBA Finals all rolled into one. | ” |
| — Tony Trabert, in his book 'Trabert on Tennis' (1988) | ||
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| “ | In any match between the perfect baseline player and the perfect net rusher, I would take the baseliner every time. | ” |
| — Bill Tilden | ||
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| “ | I have broken every rule recommended by instruction books over the past fifty years. | ” |
| — Björn Borg | ||
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| “ | The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how much I play, I’ll never be as good as a wall. | ” |
| — Mitch Hedberg | ||