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" I'll let the racket do the talking. "
John McEnroe
Talking
Racket
Sports
Related Quotes:
" With commentating, I've had a chance to show the humorous side of my personality that I didn't use on the court. It's fun, and I don't take myself too seriously. I have good broadcast teams with me, but I'm not a huge stats guy. I think they post the numbers too quickly, and I'd rather let the match play out a bit first. "
John McEnroe
Fun
Personality
Myself
" I went on safari in South Africa just after apartheid had ended. "
John McEnroe
South Africa
Just
Apartheid
" What made my matches against Borg and Connors interesting was, comparing it to boxing, it was like a puncher and a counter-puncher. "
John McEnroe
Interesting
Like
Boxing
" When I came on the tour, I thought, 'Why don't they treat tennis players the same way they look at football players?' Because I've got news for you: when they are on the pitch, they are not saying, 'Hello, how are you?' out there. "
John McEnroe
Saying
Treat
Football
" I don't really know why I started playing as a kid, but I grew up in Queens, New York, not too far from Forest Hills, where they played the U.S. Open in those days. I even got to be a ball boy there. Also, there was a tennis court just a block away from our house, and I'd hang out down there. "
John McEnroe
House
New York
Boy
" I didn't serve and volley until I got to Wimbledon in '77. "
John McEnroe
Serve
Wimbledon
Volley
" In general, people are administered drugs too readily. "
John McEnroe
Too
General
People
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Fighting
Need
Me
" The older I get, the better I used to be. "
John McEnroe
Better
Used
Older
" 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
City
Think
New York
" I was always fighting the establishment, trying to run through brick walls. "
John McEnroe
Brick
Walls
Trying
" They should be required to be in less events; there should be less events for the women. It seems it takes an actual meltdown on the court or women quitting the game altogether before they realize there's a need to change the schedule. "
John McEnroe
Change
Game
Need
" 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! "
John McEnroe
Up
Stars
Side
" If people do things without thinking them through, that rubs me up the wrong way. "
John McEnroe
Things
Wrong
Way
" I had a similar year back in 1984 when I felt like I couldn't lose. "
John McEnroe
Back
Year
Similar
" 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
Open
People
Know
" I can barely remember what I was like 36 years ago when I was 21 years old. "
John McEnroe
Like
Years
Remember
" I can't advocate people not liking each other. But... I'd prefer it. "
John McEnroe
Other
Advocate
People
" 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
Great
You
Think
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Bad
People
Talk
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Great
Healthy
Respect
" Everybody loves success, but they hate successful people. "
John McEnroe
Successful
Success
People
" I think it's the mark of a great player to be confident in tough situations. "
John McEnroe
Great
Tough
Confident
" There's a certain beauty and majesty to Wimbledon. The elegance, the way the grass looks on TV. "
John McEnroe
Elegance
Beauty
Grass
" Sometimes you get hungrier when you taste it. "
John McEnroe
Sometimes
Hungrier
Get
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Dumb
Worry
You
" I like to be close to water and the ocean, particularly. I love to get out and body surf. I like mountain biking, too. "
John McEnroe
Mountain
Love
Like
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Seen
Up
Trend
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Week
Always
Play
" When I felt I was rejected by my first wife, and she said, 'Some day you will thank me for this,' you know what? I do. And so, sometimes it is darkest before the dawn. You can think it is bleak and you can't see. You never know. "
John McEnroe
Wife
You
Day