Quotes from Andre Agassi

Brooke asks why I didn't just quit. Because it's the Summer of Revenge.

Voittamisen riemu on pienempi kuin häviämisen tuska, eikä hyvä tunne kestä yhtä kauaa kuin paha, ei läheskään.

There is nuance now, subtext, body language, and pheromones.

For me, that's the definition of being rich: it doesn't cross your mind to mention it to your best friend. And money is such a given you don't care how you come by it.

Because you hate losing. And divorce is one tough loss.

I know there are few children in the world who could have seen that ball, let alone hit it. But I take no pride in my reflexes, and I get no credit. It's what I'm supposed to do. Every hit is expected, every miss a crisis.

I just don't trust surgeons. I trust very few people, and I especially dislike the notion of trusting one perfect stranger, surrendering all control to one person whom I've only just met.

Life will throw everything but the kitchen sink in your path, and then it will throw the kitchen sink.

Si buscas consejos, lo siento. Si buscas un amigo, tal vez sí pueda ayudarte.

A ball feels different off every player's racket-there are minute but concrete subtleties of force and spin. Now, hitting with her (Steffi Graf), I feel her subtleties. It's like touching her, though we're forty feet apart. Every forehand is foreplay.

And yet. Our best intentions are often thwarted by external forces—forces that we ourselves set in motion long ago. Decisions, especially bad ones, create their own kind of momentum

Me pregunto qué podría llegar a hacer en el tenis si tuviera acceso a esa rabia y fuera capaz de orientarla hacia el otro lado de la red. En cambio, lo que hago es dirigirla toda contra mí mismo.

He's telling himself, I was so close. I was there. The finish line! He's living in the past, and I'm in the present. He's thinking. I'm feeling. Don't thing, Andre. Hit harder.

He's telling himself, I was so close. I was there. The finish line! He's living in the past, and I'm in the present. He's thinking. I'm feeling. Don't think, Andre. Hit harder.

I wish I could emulate his spectacular lack of inspiration, and his peculiar lack of need for inspiration.

And yet. Our best intentions are often thwarted by external forces—forces that we ourselves set in motion long ago.

la mitad de las veces me ocurre a mí. Aunque ocupo una de las diez primeras posiciones del ranking mundial, hay días en que parezco un aficionado.

Dice que él no tiene ninguna respuesta. Lo que ocurre, sencillamente, es que ha leído la Biblia muchas veces, del derecho y del revés, y que le gusta compartir con otras personas sus observaciones.

It's no accident, I think, that tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love, the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature.

Mandela said once in an interview: No matter where you are in life, there is always more journey ahead. And I think of one of Mandela's favorite quotes, from the poem Invictus, which sustained him during those moments when he thought his journey had been cut short: I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

In the middle of the tournament I turn eighteen. The tournament director rolls a cake out to center court, and everyone sings. I've never liked birthdays. No one ever took note of my birthday when I was growing up. But this feels different. I'm legal, everyone keeps saying. In the eyes of the law, you're a grown-up. Then the law is an ass.

But my eyelids are heavy. I fight to keep them open, fight as always the loss of control, which feels like the ultimate loss of choice.

I don't want to give voice to my problems, for fear of rousing them, making them pounce.

everyone on my team says I'm destined to kick him off the top of that vaunted mountain. I tell them that tennis has nothing to do with destiny. Destiny has better things to do than count ATP points.