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" I'm generally happy, although my kids and wife may sometimes argue with that. "
John McEnroe
May
Argue
Happy
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" I can tell you from experience that when you get that pent-up and crazed, it can be distracting. "
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Experience
Get
I Can
" 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? "
John McEnroe
Cry
Hate
Lose
" I thought if I looked back and evaluated my life, it would help me in the future. "
John McEnroe
Life
My Life
Thought
" When I walk out there on court, I become a maniac... Something comes over me, man. "
John McEnroe
Become
Walk
Over
" No other athlete in any sport has ever had to go through what I have to. "
John McEnroe
Had
Other
Through
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Time
Rivals
Long Time
" 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. "
John McEnroe
See
Always
Go
" 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
You
Live
New York
" 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
" 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
Desire
Champion
You
" Sometimes you get hungrier when you taste it. "
John McEnroe
Sometimes
Hungrier
Get
" The mistake, if I made one, in the late 1980s, was thinking I needed to change my game. "
John McEnroe
Late
Change
Game
" 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
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Feelings
Real
Anger
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Enough
You
Energy
" My best tennis at my peak was when I played a lot of matches. "
John McEnroe
Best
Played
Peak
" I grew up watching Dr. J, and I was like, 'Oh my God, this guy is the greatest basketball player I ever saw.' "
John McEnroe
Basketball
God
Guy
" 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
" I can't advocate people not liking each other. But... I'd prefer it. "
John McEnroe
Other
Advocate
People
" 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
Three
Most
People
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Event
Behavior
Got
" Everybody loves success, but they hate successful people. "
John McEnroe
Successful
Success
People
" 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 was a different kind of player as a kid and didn't do too much shouting and screaming. If things didn't go my way, I tended to get a bit overwhelmed. All I wanted to do was cry on my mom's shoulder. I didn't know how to handle defeat in front of a crowd, and I didn't want to be the loser. "
John McEnroe
Loser
Too Much
Cry
" It seems like the richer you are, the more chance you have of paying less tax. "
John McEnroe
Seems
Chance
Tax
" Do women golfers say they could go out and beat Tiger Woods? "
John McEnroe
Woods
Beat
Say
" To be involved in a senior tournament back in the States is very satisfying. "
John McEnroe
Back
Very
Tournament
" 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. "
John McEnroe
You
Losing
Pain
" I was always taught that you needed to be intense and never lose your focus. "
John McEnroe
Always
Your
You
" 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