Tennis: Ranking the Best Quotes of All Time

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The only discussion that seems to be going around is who is the greatest tennis player of all time.

In order for us to take a break from that discussion and talk about something a bit more refreshing, I decided to compose a quick list of the greatest tennis quotes of all time.

The list contains quotes from people inside the tennis industry and from outside the industry too. The quotes are not in any specific order, so check them out and post a comment on which you think is the greatest tennis quote of all time!

Arthur Ashe

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(the photo is the main stadium of the US Open named after Arthur Ashe)

Arthur Ashe, a professional tennis player, has many great quotes. Here he tells us how to prepare for a tennis match.

"One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation."

“There is a syndrome in sports called paralysis by analysis. The ideal attitude is to be physically loose and mentally tight."

Arthur Ashe is a winner of 3 grand slam titles. US Open (1968), Australian Open (1970) and Wimbledon (1975).

Rod Laver

Rod Laver is on the right
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Rod Laver, one of the all time greats, telling us what we should think about on court.

"The next point — that’s all you must think about."

Rod Laver is the only tennis player to win the calender Grand Slam in the open era. Winning all four majors in 1969.

Althea Gibson

Althea Gibson was the first ever African-American tennis player on the woman's tour.

“In sports, you simply aren't considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully. Winning it once can be a fluke; winning it twice proves you are the best.”

Althea Gibson proved this by defending both her Wimbledon and US Championships in 1958.

Steffi Graf

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"When you lose a couple of times, it makes you realize how difficult it is to win."

Mind you, Steffi did not do a lot of losing in her time making her losses a bit more difficult to accept.

Steffi Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second amongst male and female players, to Margaret Court's 24

Martina Navratilova

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One of the all time greats of tennis in general, Martina is another tennis player with many great quotes.

"The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are at their worst."

Her best quote being:

"Whoever said, ‘It’s not whether you win or lose that counts,’ probably lost."

Martina has the record for most singles titles (167) and doubles titles (177) in the open era. 18 singles titles and 31 doubles titles were Grand Slams.

Rafael Nadal

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"I play each point like my life depends on it."

He has proved that to us many times. Nadal has 9 Grand Slams and is considered to be the greatest clay court player of all time. The Spaniard has an open era record of 81 consecutive wins on clay.

Andre Agassi

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Andre Agassi, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, had this quote to share with us.

“Being number two sucks.”

Although Andre was always considered the second best American tennis player after Pete Sampras in the 90's, he is the only Tennis player in the open era to have the Career Super Slam; having won the Australian, French and US Opens, along with Wimbledon and the ATP World Tour Finals throughout his career.

John McEnroe

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We all know about Johnny's quotes. Most of his quotes were outbursts on live TV in which we would grunge every time we would see him.

"You cannot be serious!"

His most famous quote, which in turn then became a catchphrase, which he directed towards an umpire during a match at Wimbledon in 1981.

His second most famous quote which had become a catchphrase is:

“Answer the question, jerk!”

This quote was directed at an umpire during a match at the Stockholm Open in 1984.

“Do you have any problems, other than that you're unemployed, a moron, and a dork?”

I do not know when or where John said this quote but i thought it was worth including.

McEnroe is a winner of 7 Grand Slam titles

Jimmy Connors

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Another American tennis player, Jimmy Connors, who usually left us laughing after his famous quotes. This is what Connors said when asked if experience gives you an advantage on court:

"Experience is a great advantage. The problem is that when you get the experience, you’re too damned old to do anything about it."

This is another of Jimmy's intriguing takes on tennis:

"New Yorkers love it when you spill your guts out there. Spill your guts at Wimbledon and they make you stop and clean it up."

And last but not least, a quote that perfectly defines who and what Connors is all about:

"I hate to lose more than I love to win."

Jimmy is a winner of 8 Grand Slam titles, 5 of them being at the US Open.

Mitch Hedberg

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Mitch Hedberg was actually a well known American stand-up comedian. However, he contributed to tennis with this famous quote:

"The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I’ll never be as good as a wall."

Mitch Hedberg died in 2005.

Stefan Edberg

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Stefan Edberg is one of the all time tennis greats, both on and off the court. He was renowned in the tennis world as a true sportsman. One of his famous quotes came after a match he played at Wimbledon in 1991, where Michael Stich had narrowly defeated Edberg in the semifinals 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 7-6(2). Edberg did not lose his serve that day.

"If he hadn't lived," (talking of Jimmy Van Allen the inventor of the tiebreak) "Michael and i might still be out there playing."

Stefan Edberg won 6 Grand Slam titles. The French Open is the only one that eluded him.

Billy Carter

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And now for one of my personal favorite tennis quotes of all time, from a man called Billy Carter.

He was not a tennis player, actually he was an American business man. He was mostly known for endorsing Billy Beer, and also being the younger brother of United States President Jimmy Carter.

Billy was being shown how to hit a two handed backhand when he said:

"But that won’t give me a free hand to hold the beer."