To the untrained eye, tennis is a very simple game. To tennis fans though, it’s complex; it’s brutal; it’s exhilarating… It’s beautiful. But sometimes, it’s a little difficult to put all that into words, so we’ve compiled a list of our favourite tennis quotes to help is explain just why we love tennis.
Quotes About The Love for Tennis
Where better to start than with quotes about the love of the game. There are probably a million and one reasons we love tennis, but these quotes from some of the best players to ever grace the court, sum it up beautifully.
I have two lives, and all the problems I might have, I feel like I drop them once I step on to the match court.
I have always considered tennis as a combat in an arena between two gladiators who have their racquets and their courage as their weapons.
The great part about tennis is you can’t run out the clock…. As long as we were still playing, I had a chance.
The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall.
Experience is a great advantage. The problem is that when you get the experience, you're too damned old to do anything about it.
It’s one-on-one out there, man. There ain’t no hiding. I can’t pass the ball.
Tennis Quotes About Winning & Being A Champion
For the very best out there, winning is a state of mind. Their desire to win and will to keep fighting until the last point is theirs is something we can all learn from, no matter what level of the game we play at. These inspirational tennis quotes describe perfectly what it means to win and be a great champion.
What is the single most important quality of a tennis champion? I would have to say desire, staying in there and winning matches when you are not playing that well.
The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are at their worst.
Success is walking out of here with the title, and anything less is not good enough in my book.
Most players who play tennis love the game. But I think you also have to respect it. You want to do everything you can in your power to do your best. And for me, I know I get insane guilt if I go home at the end of the day and don’t feel I’ve done everything I can. If I know I could have done something better, I have this uneasy feeling.
I never wanted to be the great guy or the colorful guy or the interesting guy. I wanted to be the guy who won titles.
Whoever said, ‘It’s not whether you win or lose that counts,’ probably lost.
I hate to lose more than I love to win.
You don't have to hate your opponents to beat them.
Champions keep playing until they get it right.
I’ve always been aware that the image you patiently construct for an entire career can be ruined in a minute. It scares you a bit, but that’s the way things are.
Quotes About Hard Work & Dedication To Tennis
Of course, winning doesn’t come easy and it certainly doesn’t just happen overnight. Even the very best work and train tirelessly to achieve what they have and these quotes really show their dedication to tennis both on and off the court.
I made it look so easy on court all those years. No one realized how hard I had to work. No one realized how much I had to put into it. They underestimated my intensity.
You have to believe in the long term plan you have but you need the short term goals to motivate and inspire you.
I play each point like my life depends on it.
Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.
There is no way around hard work. Embrace it. You have to put in the hours because there’s always something which you can improve.
Tennis Quotes About Losing & The Pain of Defeat
Nobody likes losing, but it’s often in defeat that we learn the most about our game and ourselves. These tennis quotes express the pain in losing, but also highlight the importance of learning in defeat and finding a way to be better next time.
Being number two sucks.
As a tennis player, you have to get used to losing every week. Unless you win the tournament, you always go home as a loser. But you have to take the positive out of a defeat and go back to work. Improve to fail better.
Nobody beats Vitus Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.
In tennis, it is not the opponent you fear, it is the failure itself, knowing how near you were but just out of reach.
Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner.
Losing is not my enemy, fear of losing is my enemy.
I've grown most not from victories, but setbacks. If winning is God's reward, then losing is how He teaches us.
Quotes About Tennis Psychology & Attitude on Court
Tennis is as a much a mental game as it is a physical one. Matches are often won and lost before we even step foot on the court and these quotes express that better than we ever could in words!
Tennis is mostly mental. Of course, you must have a lot of physical skill, but you can’t play tennis well and not be a good thinker. You win or lose the match before you even go out there.
The next point - that's all you must think about.
I didn't have the same fitness or ability as the other girls, so I had to beat them with my mind.
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same.
A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.
I fear no one but respect everyone.
You’ve got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing.
Is only a tennis match. At the end, that’s life. There is much more important things.
Freed from the thoughts of winning, I instantly play better. I stop thinking, start feeling. My shots become a half-second quicker, my decisions become the product of instinct rather than logic.
I’ve been playing against older and stronger competition my whole life. It has made me a better tennis player and able to play against this kind of level despite their strength and experience.
I just try to play tennis and don’t find excuses. You know, I just lost because I lost, not because my arm was sore.
I’m not afraid of anyone, but sometimes I’m afraid of myself.
What rivalry? I win all the matches.
I told myself to play free. You play the ball. You don’t play the opponent. Be free in your head. Be free in your shots. Go for it. The brave will be rewarded here.
Tennis is a mental game. Everyone is fit, everyone hits great forehands and backhands.
There is a syndrome in sports called paralysis by analysis. The ideal attitude is to be physically loose and mentally tight.
Tennis Quotes About Being Yourself
Win or lose though, the important thing is to be yourself on court. Do things your way because no one can do them for you and these quotes remind us of exactly that!
You'll hear a lot of applause in your life, fellas, but none will mean more to you than that applause from your peers. I hope each of you hears that at the end.
Sometimes I wish I could have been a bit more relaxed, but then I wouldn’t have been the same player.
I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I love to play.
I'm not the next anyone, I'm the first Maria Sharapova.
I’m not the best player in the history of tennis. I think I’m amongst the best. That’s true. That’s enough for me.
And there’s no better way to cap this list off with perhaps our favourite tennis quote, delivered by none other than Ash Barty following her retirement:
There's no right way, there's no wrong way, there's just my way.
Those are of course just a few of the best tennis quotes out there. If you have any other particular favourite tennis quotes that inspire you to get on court and start hitting again, let us know in the comments below!
