Brad Stevens Quotes

What I want out of tennis is not necessarily just winning.

I always tried to win. I was as competitive as I am today.

You need to possess more than a little nastiness to play basketball at the highest level.

I don't know what happens with other players or what is in their heads, but for me - just win.

That competitive nature comes out when I feel like I'm playing bad and when things aren't going right.

Even when I played in club matches, I would take it to heart that I had got out early.

A lot of people say they're competitive, and they think that means they scream and yell when they lose. I'm not like that. I don't scream and yell. I just win. At anything I do, I win.

Grit and self-control are related, but they're not the same thing.

I don't ever go into a fight wanting to hurt someone. I just want to show them that I am better than them, and if they get hurt, it's part of the sport.

When I started playing well all I wanted to do was win. Which was a problem. When it became clear I wasn't going to win, I would get fed up. I played poorly on a few Sundays, finishing 50th because I wasn't interested in finishing 30th. But I've learned not to do that.

One thing I get from competitive sports is that I am fiercely ambitious.

Mindset is important, I should always think about finishing games from any position.

It doesn't matter if it's cards, doesn't matter if I am racing home from dinner or something, I just want to be the first to do it. That's just kind of my mentality. That's been my mentality for a long time. It's kind of the way I was raised.

You need to have that killer instinct. It can't be taught. Where does it come from? A couple slaps. A couple things you had denied to you.

Curiosity, rationalization, and laziness are no match against courage, self-control, and mental toughness.

Tennis players need to be very focused and very intense, and I can show tennis players are not just hitting the little yellow ball and moving in between the white lines. I'm always trying to show my personality outside of the court.

I am not stopped by low funds, physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, or temptations to stop and work on some other production that would be more financially rewarding.

The greatest players use anger as fuel. Michael Jordan played every night with something like road rage.

I don't know anything that builds the will to win better than competitive sports.

Strength is leading when you just don't want to lead.

The stubbornness I had as a child has been transmitted into perseverance. I can let go but I don't give up. I don't beat myself up about negative things.

I am quite a relaxed person out of the car, but in the car I am aggressive, I never give up, I fight to the end and I try 100% all the time.

I was a competitive guy growing up.

Strength of will is the test of a young man's possibilities. Can he will strong enough and hold whatever he undertakes with an iron grip?

My whole life I've hated to lose, no doubt about it. I've been guilty of that since I was 6 years old, at camp. I have always played to win. That's who I am. But I never hurt anybody. The problem is when you're perceived as being too aggressive where you hurt somebody or do something improper.