Tennis Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old tennis quotes, tennis sayings, and tennis proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

The primary conception of tennis is to get the ball over the net and at the same time to keep it within bounds of the court; failing this, within the borders of the neighborhood. Elliot Chaze
Tennis is not a gentle game. Psychologically, it is vicious. That people are only just beginning to come to terms with this fact illustrates just how big a con trick has been perpetrated on the non-playing tennis public – and even a few players, usually losing players – for decades. Richard Evans
Why has slamming a ball with a racquet become so obsessive a pleasure for so many of us? It seems clear to me that a primary attraction of the sport is the opportunity it gives to release aggression physically without being arrested for felonious assault. Nat Hentoff
The fifth set is not about tennis, it's about nerves. Boris Becker
I have always considered tennis as a combat in an arena between two gladiators who have their racquets and their courage as their weapons. Yannick Noah
The great part about tennis is you can’t run out the clock…. As long as we were still playing, I had a chance. Andre Agassi
By batting a ball back and forth over a net one forgets all one's worries, one even forgets about death. Marty Rubin
The Williams sisters had something else: each other, and their absolute dominance. Anne Helen Petersen
If you see a tennis player who looks as if he is working hard, that means he isn't very good. Helen Wills Moody
Tennis is a young man's game. Until you're twenty-five, you can play singles. From twenty-five to thirty-five, you should play doubles. I won't tell you exactly how old I am, but when I played, there were twenty-eight men on the court - just on my side of the net. George Burns
In lawn tennis mixed, the basic chivalry move is to pretend to serve less fiercely to the woman than to the man. This is particularly useful if your first service tends to be out in any case. Stephen Potter
I call tennis the McDonald's of sport—you go in, they make a quick buck out of you, and you're out. Pat Cash
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. Jimmy Connors
Tennis can be a very frustrating sport. There is no way around the hard work. Embrace it. You have to put in the hours because there is always something you can improve. You have to put in a lot of sacrifice and effort for sometimes little reward but you have to know that, if you put in the right effort, the reward will come. Roger Federer
It is interesting to note that if, while learning tennis, you begin to learn how to focus your attention and how to trust in yourself, you have learned something far more valuable than how to hit a forceful backhand. W. Timothy Gallwey
Tennis is mostly mental. You win or lose the match before you even go out there. Serena Williams
Love means nothing in tennis. Zero. It only means you lose. Lizzie Bradbury
Remember I always told you that tennis was a gentleman's game? Edward Colt
Tennis ball and a catcher's mitt / I remember that boy throwing it / High up in the air then catching it / While the oak tree leaves cheered. Mike N. Geiger; Vicky McGehee; David Vincent N. Williams
I sat with my high-heeled sneakers on / Waiting to play tennis in the noonday sun / I had my white shorts rolled up past my waist / And my wig-hat was falling in my face / But they wouldn't let me on the tennis court. Bob Dylan
Never thought it would be a easy, I hope we understand that / Gotta earn it when you see me, I hope we understand that / I look up at these tennis shoes over the wire / I'm looking at these tennis shoes over the wire / But no change coming. Johnny Reed McKinzie
What wonder that I should be dreaming / Out here in the garden to-day? / The light through the leaves is streaming,-- / Paulina cries, "Play!" / The birds to each other are calling, / The freshly-cut grasses smell sweet; / To Teddy's dismay, comes falling / The ball at my feet. / "Your stroke should be over, not under!" / "But that's such a difficult way!" / The place is a springtide wonder / Of lilac and may; / Of lilac, and may, and laburnum, / Of blossom,--We're losing the set! / "Those volleys of Jenny's,--return them; / "Stand close to the net!" Amy Levy
Lawn tennis, though an excellent game in every respect is, nevertheless, one in which middle-aged people, especially ladies, cannot engage with satisfaction to themselves, and its rapidly waning popularity is largely due to this fact. The Isthmian Book of Croquet