Quotes from John McEnroe

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.

What I think is frustrating for Americans is that it feels like more was going to change with Obama.

The only thing 'championship' about Wimbledon is its prestige.

There's a certain beauty and majesty to Wimbledon. The elegance, the way the grass looks on TV.

I didn't serve and volley until I got to Wimbledon in '77.

I remember when I was younger taking more pride in Wimbledon than the French. That and the U.S. Open - they were the ones I wanted to win.

You hit a wall at some stage when you don't want it so bad, but you don't know when that's going to be - as far as competition or as far as health is concerned. Sometimes it's just natural. You just taste it, and you want it so bad that you find other gears.

I would not have an event before the majors. I would build them up. It very rarely happens that a player plays the week before, wins the event, and then goes on to win the slam.

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!

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.

Everybody loves success, but they hate successful people.

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.

I'll let the racket do the talking.

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.

The older I get, the better I used to be.

The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose.

4. In between rounds at Wimbledon in 1982, I struggled to learn David Bowie's "Suffragette City" and "Rebel, Rebel" in my hotel flat. I heard a knock on my door. It was David Bowie. "Come up and have a drink," he told me. "Just don't bring your guitar.

when you're young, you feel invulnerable. I don't feel invulnerable anymore.

You cannot be serious. You CANNOT BE SERIOUS!

The Open era had brought personalities into the game, and personality was generating media exposure, which was generating more money, which in turn guaranteed more media exposure - which in turn drove in even more money. Where money and publicity meet, there's always excitement, but good behavior is rarely a part of the mix. Manners are the operating rules of more stable systems.

I naïvely believed that this person actually thought along the same lines as I did—and maybe she did, for a while. In her own way, Tatum tried hard, too, but ultimately she just didn't have the wherewithal to bring it off. She was so young! We were so young. As angry as I get, I do feel for her—when I can get through the anger.

It was as if Chang had read right through me: He's lost a step. He can't get back fast enough. The helplessness was terrible. However, I still took pride in the fact that opponents—even the young bucks—were always very up when they played me. Maybe I was a notch in their belts; maybe they felt, This guy's a prick; I'll show him. I like to think it was because I was a great champion.

People tend to forget the genuinely lousy level of officiating that was prevalent in professional tennis when I came along. That's why, with my parents' words echoing in my ears—tell the truth; be honest at any cost—I felt I was (don't laugh) on a kind of quest to get things to improve.

For fifteen years, I had been a presence—terrible or wonderful, but never boring—at Wimbledon, stirring conversation and controversy even when I didn't show up. In my own inimitable way, and without even willing it, I had become part of Wimbledon's tradition.