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.
John McEnroeIf 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.
John McEnroeThe good part of having six kids is, there's always one who wants to hug you and say, 'Daddy, I love you.'
John McEnroeYou 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.
John McEnroeI'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.
John McEnroeThere'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.
John McEnroeThe 1980 Wimbledon final with Borg - that's the one I was most proud of to be part of. It's talked about as one of the best matches people have seen so that certainly elevated me in a lot of different ways, even though I came out second in that one.
John McEnroeWhat 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.
John McEnroeWe 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.
John McEnroeBorg'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.
John McEnroeIf 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.
John McEnroeThat'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.
John McEnroeI 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.
John McEnroeEquipment'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.
John McEnroeOn a given day, Serena Williams could beat some players. I believe because she's so incredibly strong mentally that she could overcome some situations where players would choke 'cause she's been in it so many times, so many situations at Wimbledon, The U.S. Open, etc. But if she had to just play the circuit - the men's circuit - that would be an entirely different story.
John McEnroeIf, 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.
John McEnroeI want to be remembered as a great player, but I guess it will be as a player who got angry on a tennis court.
John McEnroe