John McEnroe quotes:

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 havent 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.

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?

Do you have any problems, other than that you're unemployed, a moron, and a dork?

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.

Maybe I should have played two more Australians and two less Davis Cups? I could have had more majors and still have three Davis Cups when most people don't have one.

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

Borg's won Wimbledon four straight times and out there he has just lost an 18-16 tie breaker. You'd think maybe once he'd let up and say forget it. But oh, no way.

If you want to be a tennis player, then mould yourself on Roger Federer. I won three Wimbledon titles and I wish I could play like him.

You cannot be serious!

Everybody loves success, but they hate successful people.

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.

But these guys learn so fast now, they sort of soak up the information, they're fearless. Those are the guys who learn from their mistakes and come back strong the next time.

I'd like to be the commissioner of tennis, but do I want to get into politics? Sometimes I have delusions of grandeur that that would be an interesting, good thing. I'm talking about actual politics, like being a congressman, but then I see how unbelievably nasty it really is, and maybe I'm not quite knowledgeable enough to actually do it.

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.

The greatest compliment I ever got was when people called me an artist, and I understand that solo aspect of being an artist, when you're in there by yourself, trying to do something great, and people who don't even know you can come up and just dump on you.

Equipment's the biggest change. And the guys have been getting bigger, stronger, more athletic - so the game has become more of a track meet instead of a tennis match, in a sense.

I believe there's only one autobiography you can do.

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

It's one thing if you live in London and you're rooting for Chelsea or you're in New York and you love the Giants or Jets and no matter who's on the team you're into it. It's different in tennis; you're sort of your own guy, so you have to reach out and grab a person in a different way.

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.

When I was 25, if you'd have said I was going to be a commentator, that would seem like, 'Oh, my God. That's a huge step down.'

Tennis is a funny game; unbelievable highs and the lows are just as low.

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.

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.

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

I want to be remembered as a great player, but I guess it will be as a player who got angry on a tennis court.

I know being a linesman is a thankless job, especially with guys like me around.

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

I'll let the racket do the talking.

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

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.

Believe it or not, I was a pretty shy youngster growing up.

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

I have never seen someone point after point that just gives it everything.

My greatest strength is that I have no weaknesses.

That's one of the best sets I've seen him play, although I should preface that by saying I haven't seen him play before.

As they say in sports, the older you get, the better you used to be.

We all choke. Winners know how to handle choking better than losers.

Bush is an idiot and he's President, so anything's possible

It's been predictable, in the sense of 'expect the unexpected'.

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.

This [defeat] has taught me a lesson, but I'm not sure what it is.

You can tell when someone has been on steroids A guy bulks up, has a new body and never gets tired...You see these guys or girls who come onto the tour talking about their new training programs and their diets where they eat this or that new thingbut they'll never tell you about the drugs they took.

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

Be happy. If you're successful but unhappy, that's emptiness.

It would be a nice place if you took all the people out of the city.

The only thing championship about Wimbledon is its prestige.

Let's hope his nerves will run through his veins.

There's too much money and too many nice guys around.

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.

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

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

I am not a monster. I'm not all bad. Maybe 10 percent. I think I'm 90 percent good.