Tennis famous quotes
05-13-2025
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[At high school in Cape Town] my interests outside my academic work were debating, tennis, and to a lesser extent, acting. I became intensely interested in astronomy and devoured the popular works of astronomers such as Sir Arthur Eddington and Sir James Jeans, from which I learnt that a knowledge of mathematics and physics was essential to the pursuit of astronomy. This increased my fondness for those subjects.
-- Allan McLeod Cormack -
Being champion is all well and good, but you can't eat a crown.
-- Althea Gibson -
I hope that I have accomplished just one thing: that I have been a credit to tennis and my country.
-- Althea Gibson -
There were many occasions in my career where I could have given up, where I asked myself whether I would ever make it.
-- Amelie Mauresmo -
Unlike in my young days I'm not able to eat, drink and sleep tennis.
-- Amelie Mauresmo -
This trophy is so special in the world of tennis and it feels great.
-- Amelie Mauresmo -
I do play tennis, but I don't really like competition. I'm supposed to be so intense, but I hate competition.
-- Amy Chua -
A smile is a curve that can straighten out a lot of problems.
-- Ana Ivanovic -
I know China are very good in table tennis. Let me see what happens in tennis. I am pretty happy with the way I am playing.
-- Anastasia Myskina -
But I still have to practice hard if I'm going to play my best tennis.
-- Anastasia Myskina -
Nothing can substitute for just plain hard work
-- Andre Agassi -
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.
-- Andre Agassi -
I'm going to have to pick my shots and play great tennis.
-- Andre Agassi -
You'll hear a lot of applause in your life, but none will mean more to you than that applause from your peers. I hope each of you hears that at the end.
-- Andre Agassi -
The great part about tennis is you can't run out the clock.... As long as we were still playing, I had a chance.
-- Andre Agassi -
Sex doesn't interfere with your tennis; it's staying out all night trying to find it that affects your tennis
-- Andre Agassi -
My only good result in 1997 was marrying Brooke Shields.
-- Andre Agassi -
My feelings are Yevgeny Kafelnikov should take his prize money when he is done here and go and buy some perspective.
-- Andre Agassi -
I always felt tennis and winning was a byproduct of doing everything right.
-- Andre Agassi -
It's shocking how little there is to do with tennis when you're just thinking about nothing except winning every point.
-- Andre Agassi -
You know my dad pushed me to believe that I was going to be the best. I just never thought of life without tennis, even looking forward.
-- Andre Agassi -
Tennis was always sort of a - a learning. It was a vehicle for me to discover a lot about myself. And the things that I sort of discovered at times I not only didn't want to see it for myself but I certainly didn't want millions of people to see it.
-- Andre Agassi -
Tennis was always sort of a - a learning. It was a vehicle for me to discover a lot about myself.
-- Andre Agassi -
He [Andy Roddick] doesn't make mistakes, only when he has to.
-- Andrew Castle -
Now I do bowling, golf, and tennis. I want to be a good bowler.
-- Andy Lau -
In tennis, it is not the opponent you fear, it is the failure itself, knowing how near you were but just out of reach.
-- Andy Murray -
I proved that I can win the Grand Slams. I proved that I can last four and a half hours and come out on top against one of the strongest guys physically that tennis had probably seen especially on this surface. So they would probably be the things that I would say I have learned tonight: To not doubt myself physically and mentally from now on.
-- Andy Murray -
It would have been better if I had won, but reaching the final was perfect.
-- Andy Murray -
Sometimes you're looking to play perfect tennis but it's not going to happen all the time and you have to accept it.
-- Andy Murray -
Tennis is an individual sport, and I am quite a self-conscious person.
-- Andy Murray -
For me the most important thing has always been tennis, and that's what I want to get across the image I want to portray is a hard-working tennis player.
-- Andy Murray -
You are always talking about yourself and tennis and how you are feeling. I try to avoid it when I don't have to.
-- Andy Murray -
Well, my mum's been a tennis coach - she coached me till I was 12.
-- Andy Murray -
Whatever I do, I love to win. I don't care if it's tennis or ping pong, I'll kill myself to win it.
-- Andy Pettitte -
My serve has killed a small dog ... I'm joking, I'm joking! The dog was huge!
-- Andy Roddick -
Almost everybody's here doing the same thing. Who am I to come up with an excuse when there's 64 other players here doing the same thing? 63 others, sorry.
-- Andy Roddick -
No, actually I wanted to play five. I definitely wanted to try to lose that fourth set and test the waters in the fifth.
-- Andy Roddick -
If I wore a sleeveless shirt, people would try to feed me after the match.
-- Andy Roddick -
I don't want to live and die with every point that's being played out there now. I'm going to let my coach live and die with every point.
-- Andy Roddick -
Is that the longest fifth set ever? It was? So, no, I've never played one longer than that!
-- Andy Roddick -
The key to the match might have been his serving. Maybe I should have concentrated harder on watching them go by me, I don't know.
-- Andy Roddick -
There's no doubt there are issues with clay. Our issues have issues that are issues right now. That's not a secret.
-- Andy Roddick -
In the States, tennis is sixth or seventh on the totem pole as far as sports go.
-- Andy Roddick -
I'm convinced being a tennis analyst is the easiest job in the world.
-- Andy Roddick -
I enjoy hitting tennis balls. I haven't lost any of the innocent parts of tennis. I just do it in front of less people.
-- Andy Roddick -
I do understand that when someone gives you a [expletive] load of money, you take that money. Someone like Larry Ellison wants to invest into his event and make it the biggest possible, and he gets stopped by the ATP. If you're a start-up, what would make you want to navigate through that and to go through that firing line? How can you step into tennis with any confidence? It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.
-- Andy Roddick -
I think that tennis is a lady's sport, so we should look out there like ladies.
-- Anna Kournikova -
You don't think people would go on about my looks if I was No. 500 in the world instead of No.12, do you? Anyway, as I keep telling everyone, you can't blame me for looking like this on purpose
-- Anna Kournikova -
When I play, I feel like in a theatre, why should I look ugly then, because I'm a tennis player?
-- Anna Kournikova -
It's true I always try to be as seductive as possible but I wouldn't be here if I couldn't play tennis.
-- Anna Kournikova -
There are a lot of pretty girls. I am a tennis player first of all, that is why I am here, and if wasn't producing results no one would notice me.
-- Anna Kournikova -
It's not really a shorter skirt, I just have longer legs
-- Anna Kournikova -
I'm like an expensive menu... you can look but you can't afford!
-- Anna Kournikova -
It's that I have a good personality and am a good tennis player.
-- Anna Kournikova -
Henman and Coria have met three times in the past and they've won one apiece.
-- Annabel Croft -
It was a good shot, but he didn't execute it very well.
-- Annabel Croft -
I don't know whether it's normal or not, but sex has always been something that I take seriously. I would put it higher than tennis on my list of constructive things to do.
-- Art Buchwald -
The proper method of playing mixed doubles is to swipe the ball accidentally and straight at the woman opponent as hard and as accurately as possible. Male players must not only retain equanimity on their side of the net, but create dissension on the other.
-- Art Hoppe -
Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner.
-- Arthur Ashe -
I don't want to be remembered for my tennis accomplishments.
-- Arthur Ashe -
Later, I discovered there was a lot of work to being good in tennis.
-- Arthur Ashe -
If I didn't play tennis I probably would have to see a psychiatrist.
-- Arthur Ashe -
It is not just the more talented player who wins. Some players may try a little harder.
-- Arthur Ashe -
Martina's like the old Green Bay Packers. You know exactly what she's going to do, but there isn't a thing you can do about it.
-- Arthur Ashe -
There is a terrific apprehension among some people that blacks will take over the sport... It will create problems because their behavior, speech and dress is just a completely different culture.
-- Arthur Ashe -
I love jeans, T-shirts, boots, and tennis shoes.
-- Ashley Benson -
Those two volleys really could be the story of this match summed up at the end of it.
-- Barry Davies -
I enjoy hanging out with friends, going on hikes and playing tennis. I also enjoy Bible study and making dinners. I have a pretty mellow life away from the water.
-- Bethany Hamilton -
The serve was invented so that the net could play.
-- Bill Cosby -
Tennis is more than just a sport. It's an art, like the ballet. Or like a performance in the theater.
-- Bill Tilden -
Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquillity.
-- Billie Jean King -
Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.
-- Billie Jean King -
Ladies, here's a hint. If you're up against a girl with big boobs, bring her to the net and make her hit backhand volleys. That's the hardest shot for the well-endowed.
-- Billie Jean King -
I like putting money back into what made my life, and tennis has been great to me.
-- Billie Jean King -
I always wanted to help make tennis a team sport.
-- Billie Jean King -
Tennis is a game of angles. You never have time to figure the angles. It's practiced. It's so practiced that it becomes an instinct. You just know where to put the ball. You just feel it. It has been computed into your brain so many times  it is there.
-- Billie Jean King -
For me, losing a tennis match isn't failure, it's research.
-- Billie Jean King -
Men can have a huge turnover of sponsorship and still survive a lot better than the women. But the women's ratings are better, at least at home in the United States than in the men's tennis.
-- Billie Jean King -
Tennis taught me so many lessons in life. One of the things it taught me is that every ball that comes to me, I have to make a decision. I have to accept responsibility for the consequences every time I hit a ball.
-- Billie Jean King -
I was always in the tennis business-from 1968. I was in tournaments and also on World Team Tennis teams as well.
-- Billie Jean King -
I used to be told if I talked about my sexuality in any way that we wouldn't have a tennis tour.
-- Billie Jean King -
When I retired from tennis I wanted to do other things with my life.
-- Bjorn Borg -
I had a great tennis career. I have no regrets. But to find peace with yourself, and to finally be with your family - I'm probably the happiest guy in the world.
-- Bjorn Borg -
I'm amazed that years after I stopped playing tennis, people still recognize me in restaurants and ask for my autograph.
-- Bjorn Borg -
Why did I lose? No reason, though you might like to know that I got tired, my ears started popping, the rubber came off my shoes, I got cramp, and I lost one of my contact lenses. Other than that I was in great shape.
-- Bob Lutz -
I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I love to play.
-- Boris Becker -
The fifth set is not about tennis, it's about nerves.
-- Boris Becker -
Tennis is a psychological sport, you have to keep a clear head. That is why I stopped playing.
-- Boris Becker -
Andre Sa is playing close to his potential - maybe even above it.
-- Boris Becker -
Tennis has to be very careful.Not everyone is a computer, it is very good we have John McEnroe. I hope we have a couple more.
-- Boris Becker -
Girls are a distraction and can easily cost points.
-- Boris Becker -
I was in the tennis bubble. I wasn't thinking about the big picture. I didn't notice what they said on television, I wasn't reading any papers. I had a coach and a manager, and they kept me in the bubble.
-- Boris Becker -
I love tennis with a passion. I challenged Boris Becker to a match once and he said he was up for it but he never called back. I bet I could make him run around.
-- Boris Johnson -
Tim Henman has the all-time Betty Crocker draw. We're talking Easy Bake Oven.
-- Brad Gilbert
