John McEnroe Quotes

I had true rivalries. Not only did I want to beat my opponent, but I didn't want to let him up, either. I had a rivalry with Mac, Lendl, Borg. Everybody knew there was tension between us, on court and off. That's what's really ingrained in my mind: 'This is real. This isn't a soft rivalry.' There were no hugs and kisses.

There shouldn't be any true malice towards your opponent.

I don't go out there to love my enemy. I go out there to squash him.

To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy something, don't you? Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

We were brothers off the field, but there was no love lost on it. We fought like cats and dogs. Wes was always trying to strike me out, and meantime, I was always trying to hit a home run off him.

I don't like my competition. At all.

I played against a lot of guys, a lot of good players, and I remember those guys. They're friends now. They weren't then. You wanted to beat them.

There's obviously games and a history you have with guys that maybe you're a little more fired up to let them know if maybe you beat them on a play.

I've never found a key to beat Roger.

I have a lot of respect for every opponent. I don't know if there's just one who I say, 'that guy intimidates me.' When I was young and first came into the league, Ray Lewis was that guy. I was young.

I can honestly say that every time I go on court, I see the opponent in a competitive way, but not a rival.

There is no such thing as friends on the field.

I look at him as some other person I need to beat.

Bear patiently with a rival.

I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I'll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I'm gonna tell ya, that's one helluva man, and God bless him.

I hate competition.

People can be great competitors on Sunday and mates on Monday.

Then in a fraction of a second, I realized that these sportsmen were not anyone's enemies.

That's a great team we lost to. It just wasn't our day.

One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.

I am really close friends with Roger Federer and also with Benoit Paire.

You don’t want to humiliate your enemy—your adversary.

There is no little enemy.

TV shows always pit girls against each other; there's always a nemesis.

I didn't get along with most of the players I played against, but the one guy I did get along with was my greatest rival, so it can be done.