John McEnroe Quotes

• Being a celebrity is like being raped, and there’s absolutely nothing a player can do about it.

  John McEnroe

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• You cannot be serious!

  John McEnroe

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• 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

• 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

• 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

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

  John McEnroe

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

  John McEnroe

• 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.

  John McEnroe

• 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

• 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.

  John McEnroe

• It means a lot to be back in New York. Particularly since one of the last senior event scheduled in the States was supposed to be here in New York. We were supposed to play in Central Park right after 9-11 and when 9-11 happened obviously things changed.

  John McEnroe

• 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.

  John McEnroe

• If Roger stopped right now and never won another match, to me he’d already be one of the greatest players to ever play the game. To me, he’s the greatest all around talent that I’ve ever seen.

  John McEnroe

• 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

• 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

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

  John McEnroe

• 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.

  John McEnroe

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

  John McEnroe

• I believe there’s only one autobiography you can do.

  John McEnroe

• Everybody loves success, but they hate successful people.

  John McEnroe

John McEnroe (23)

Birth:	16th February, 1959
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Tennis Player

About

John Patrick McEnroe Jr. was born in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany. He is a retired American tennis player. He studied at Trinity School and Stanford University. He attained the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, finishing his career with 77 singles and 78 doubles titles; this remains the highest men's combined total of the Open Era. He won seven Grand Slam single titles, including four US Open titles and three Wimbledon titles, and added nine men's Grand Slam doubles titles. He contributed to five Davis Cup titles for the U.S. and later served as team captain. For many years he has also worked as a television commentator during the majors. He has written several books include: You Cannot Be Serious (with James Kaplan), Serious, and But Seriously.

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Today's Anniversary - 17th April

Births

• 1928 - Cynthia Ozick
• 1985 - Rooney Mara
• 1957 - Nick Hornby
• 1741 - Samuel Chase
• 1945 - Nadia McCaffrey

Deaths

• 1998 - Linda McCartney
• 2008 - Aime Fernand David Cesaire
• 1785 - William Whitehead
• 2004 - Soundarya
• 1988 - Louise Nevelson