Rod Laver Quotes

Staying interested in a match is a lot harder than many people think. Throughout my career, I’ve always had trouble in the early rounds of a tournament mainly because it was hard for me to psychologically get up until I got to the quarters or the semis. What happened a lot of times is that I would fall behind early, maybe even lose the first couple of sets in a five-set match and then begin to concentrate. Still it wasn’t something I could control from the start.

Roger Federer certainly is my claim to be the best of all time – if there is such a thing. With Rafael Nadal not far behind.

The time your game is most vulnerable is when you’re ahead; never let up.

When you’ve got your man down, rub him out.

I like to let my racket do the talking.

There’s a lot of ingredients go into being a good tennis player.

When you have the opportunity, you strike.

An otherwise happily married couple may turn a mixed doubles game into a scene from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Manners are manners. Jimmy Connors and Ilie Nastase have no respect. I don’t want my kid seeing Nastase play. The demeanor you show on the court is important to tennis…. Maybe we (yesterday’s stars) were too stereotyped. But we were told to behave or they’d take our racket away.

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

I often surprise myself. You can’t plan some shots that go in, not unless you’re on marijuana, and the only grass I’m partial to is Wimbledon’s.

The roughest thing I ever said to an umpire was, ‘Are you sure?’