Quotes About Competition

You don't have to be the best in the world every time you go out there. You just have to be better than one guy.

Quel che rende speciale qualcosa non è quel che si vince, ma quel che senti di poter perdere.

Being Number Two Sucks.

Losing to Pete has caused me enormous pain, but in the long run it's also made me more resilient. If I'd beaten Pete more often, or if he'd come along in a different generation, I'd have a better record, and I might go down as a better player, but I'd be less.

Freed from thoughts of winning, I instantly play better. I stop thinking, stop feeling. My shots become a half-second quicker, my decisions become the product of instinct rather than logic.

Points become games become sets become tournaments, and it's all so tightly connected that any point can become the turning point. It reminds me of the way seconds become minutes become hours, and any hour can be our finest. Or darkest. It's our choice.

Ciò che rende speciale qualcosa non è quel che si vince, ma quel che senti di poter perdere.

we start the year on the other side of the world, at the Australian Open, and then just chase the sun.

He doesn't know the value of letting the other guy lose.

When you know that you just took the other guy's best punch, and you're still standing, and the other guy knows it, you will rip the heart right out of him. In tennis, he says, same rule. Attack the other man's strength. If the man is a server, take away his serve. If he's a power player, overpower him. If he has a big forehand, takes pride in his forehand, go after his forehand until he hates his forehand.

People, I think, don't understand the pain of losing in a final. You practice and travel and grind to get ready. You win for one week, four matches in a row. (Or, at a slam, two weeks, six matches.) Then you lose that final match and your name isn't on the trophy, your name isn't in the record books. You lost only once, but you're a loser.

When they hand me the trophy I think about vomiting into it

Only boxers can understand the loneliness of tennis players - and yet boxers have their corner men and managers. Even a boxer's opponent provides a kind of companionship, someone he can grapple with and grunt at. In tennis you stand face-to-face with the enemy, trade blows with him, but never touch him or talk to him, or anyone else

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

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.

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.

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.

Pero, ¿y si resulta que estoy jugando lo mejor que sé, si me preocupo, si quiero ganar, y aun así no soy el mejor del mundo? Eso, dímelo tú. ¿Y si no lo eres? Creo que preferiría morir. Me apoyo en la barandilla y sollozo. J. P. tiene la decencia, la sabiduría de no decir ni hacer nada. Sabe que no hay nada que decir, salvo esperar a que se extinga el fuego.

Life is a tennis match between polar opposites. Winning and losing, love and hate, open and closed. It helps to recognize that painful fact early. Then recognize the polar opposites within yourself, and if you can't embrace them, or reconcile them, at least accept them and move on.

Ti alleni, viaggi e sgobbi per prepararti. Vinci per una settimana, quattro match di fila. (o due, settimane,sei match, se si tratta di uno slam). Poi perdi quell'ultimo incontro e il tuo nome non è sul trofeo, il tuo nome non è agli atti. Hai perso una sola volta, ma sei il perdente." da Open La mia storia

This whole rotten mess came about just because he was able to think faster than the rest of us. And be sure that he didn't overlook the point of holding all the guns he could!

And in the world of power you have to follow the rules of power, and whether you like it or not, one of these rules is to brag. You must impress others, show them their place. You have to become the biggest gorilla in the pack, the alpha male who is followed by everyone else.

Sooner or later, almost every problem in the European working world is either branded with the label "Americanization" or blamed on the culprit of Americanization—or both.

The magical triangle of these three competing ethnic communities (Americans—Indians—Germans) is, of course, no accidental construction; rather, it expresses a negative, almost obsessive passion of the German people: America