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" 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
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" There's a certain beauty and majesty to Wimbledon. The elegance, the way the grass looks on TV. "
John McEnroe
Elegance
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" 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. "
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Boy
" 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. "
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" 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
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" 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. "
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" I've never seen a good tennis movie. They all were terrible. "
John McEnroe
Seen
Never
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" If you watch a guy go out on court and have a meltdown, you're not going to think, 'Oh my God, now I'm screwed.' Or you're not going to think, 'The umpire's going to give him calls because he's just told him he's an idiot or the pits of the world.' "
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World
Watch
Think
" 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
Great
Tennis
Proud
" 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
" Everybody loves success, but they hate successful people. "
John McEnroe
Successful
Success
People
" 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
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Through
Will
Yourself
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Like
Someone
Me
" If they think I'm better at commentating than I was as a player, then I must be pretty darned good at commentating. "
John McEnroe
Good
Think
Than
" I am finicky about making sure my sneakers are pretty tight. It is almost like a superstition for me. "
John McEnroe
Almost
I Am
Like
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Great
Look
You
" What I've realised is that you can run miles, jump on a bike, lift weights, and all that other garbage, but the bottom line is that you get in tennis shape by playing tennis. You build the right muscles, and I don't believe people can do it as successfully any other way. "
John McEnroe
Bike
You
Lift
" I am someone who gets pretty worked up. "
John McEnroe
Up
Who
Am
" 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
" I can't advocate people not liking each other. But... I'd prefer it. "
John McEnroe
Other
Advocate
People
" 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. "
John McEnroe
Great
Try
People
" 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'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
" I'd never left America until I was 18. "
John McEnroe
Left
America
Until
" I would put tiebreakers in the fifth set, no question about it. "
John McEnroe
Fifth
About
Put
" 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
" Why don't they go back to wood racquets? Then we would see the best tennis to be played. "
John McEnroe
Best
See
Tennis
" The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose. Life is a learning process and you have to try to learn what's best for you. Let me tell you, life is not fun when you're banging your head against a brick wall all the time. "
John McEnroe
Learning
Best
Time
" You look at a guy like Michael Jordan: I can't believe there will be other basketball players like him. "
John McEnroe
Basketball
Believe
Guy
" 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