Quotes from John McEnroe

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?

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.

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.

I just remember watching Federer the first year he won Wimbledon. He was struggling with his back problem. I remember it vividly. It looked like there was a chance he was not going to finish. He had that look in his eye. Then, somehow, he found the wherewithal to dig a little deeper, and suddenly he wins the thing, and he's a different player.

Why don't they go back to wood racquets? Then we would see the best tennis to be played.

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.

Do women golfers say they could go out and beat Tiger Woods?

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.

I am finicky about making sure my sneakers are pretty tight. It is almost like a superstition for me.

I had a harsh lesson in 1996, when I lost four times to Andres Gomez on clay.

It's only human nature to want to know what you can do on your own or with someone else.

He [Roger Federer] is the greatest natural talent in tennis I've ever seen. I love to watch the guy play, he's an awesome talent

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

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.

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

I was always taught that you needed to be intense and never lose your focus.

If people do things without thinking them through, that rubs me up the wrong way.

I was a Yankee fan until 1981. That was the year the Yankees were two up on the Dodgers and lost four straight. And George Steinbrenner apologized to the city.

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.

The good part of having six kids is, there's always one who wants to hug you and say, 'Daddy, I love you.'

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.

I used to take pride if my kids were playing basketball, and I'd be there, and I wouldn't say anything. People were obviously expecting me to yell and scream at the ref and at them and everything. I wouldn't say anything.

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?

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.