John McEnroe Quotes

I think tennis needs to be reinvented. I think there is a space for two different tours. This exists in many other sports.

On how to make the game more exciting - Eliminate the referees, raise the basket four feet, double the size of the basketball, limit the height of the players to 5 feet 9 inches, bring back the centre jump, allow taxi drivers in for free and allow the players to carry guns.

If I ever saw one of my team-mates diving, I'd definitely have a word

I don't get a fair whack, I don't pursue vendettas or punch people on the nose.

Whatever your sex or position, life is a battle in which you are to show your pluck, and woe be to the coward. Whether passed on a bed of sickness or a tented field, it is ever the same fair play and admits no foolish distinction. Despair and postponement are cowardice and defeat. Men were born to succeed, not to fail.

Fair play is a jewel.

I tried to pretend that I was sitting in the stands with a buddy watching the game - poking him in the ribs when something exciting happened.

Some clubs want to win so much they'll do anything to get it. Our approach has been just the opposite. We've tried to do things the right way. And the right way is [abiding by] the rules and regulations ... I may not like all of them, but once they are [official], we play by them.

The average American is for the underdog, but only on the condition that he has a chance to win.

You can have fun, respect the game and also play it hard. When you have that combination, you're going to put yourself in a position to be successful.

What matters to me more than anything is that when all of this is over, football is the winner.

Cheat? Good heavens, this is an amateur cricket match amongst leading prep schools, I'm an Englishman and a schoolmaster supposedly setting an example to his young charges. We are playing the most artistic and beautiful game ever devised. Of course I'll cunting well cheat. Now, give me my robe and put on my crown. I have immortal longings in me.

You wouldn't see those sorts of decisions given in village cricket, let alone Test cricket. The England players have my sympathy.

I'm not a win at all costs guy. Winning isn't everything. It's second to breathing.

Grantland Rice, the great sportswriter once said, 'It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.' Well Grantland Rice can go to hell as far as I'm concerned.

Good sportsmanship goes beyond the game; it starts with respect.

Baseball reveals character; golf exposes it.

I don't know how you can go through a four-hour match with Rafa and he never gets a time violation.

I've always said to the refs to not be the ones to decide the game. Let the players dictate the outcome.

The day may dawn when fair play, love for one's fellow men, respect for justice and freedom, will enable tormented generations to march forth serene and triumphant from the hideous epoch in which we have to dwell. Meanwhile, never flinch, never weary, never despair.

The zip on the pitch is very zippy

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

Corruption wins not more than honesty. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues.

There are no winners in real games.

The Party System was founded on one national notion of fair play. It was the notion that folly and futility should be fairly divided between both sides.