A Quote by Arthur Ashe

There were times when I asked myself whether I was being principled or simply a coward.... I was wrapped in the cocoon of tennis early in life, mainly by blacks like my most powerful mentor, Dr. Robert Walter Johnson of Lynchburg, Virginia. They insisted that I be unfailingly polite on the court, unfalteringly calm and detached, so that whites could never accuse me of meanness. I learned well. I look at photographs of the skinny, frail, little black boy that I was in the early 1950s, and I see that I was my tennis racquet and my tennis racquet was me. It was my rod and my staff.

Arthur Ashe

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Accuse Asked Being Black Black Boy Blacks Boy Calm Cocoon Could Court Coward Detached Dr Early Frail Insisted Johnson Learned Life Like Little Look Mainly Me Meanness Mentor Most Most Powerful Myself Never Photographs Polite Powerful Principled Robert Rod See Simply Skinny Staff Tennis Times Virginia Well Were Whether Whites Wrapped

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Arthur Ashe
American - Tennis Player
July 10, 1943 - February 6, 1993

It is never too late to get into tennis! While I started playing at the age of 8 when my parents gave me a tennis racquet for Christmas, tennis is a lifelong sport that can be enjoyed by people of almost any age. It's also something you never forget once you learn.

Samantha Stosur

People in tennis, they've been in a certain bubble for so long they don't even know who they are, because obviously it's just been tennis, tennis, tennis. And let it be just tennis, tennis, tennis. Be locked into that. But when tennis is done, then what? It's kinda like: Let's enjoy being great at the sport.

Frances Tiafoe

I started out with a tennis racquet. Later, during one of the breaks we got from tennis, I started playing football with my friends. I was only five years old.

Hugo Lloris

Tennis has never been the most important thing in my life. My family, my health, my happiness...they are more important to me. On court, I want to win. Off court, I want to be a better person. Tennis is a path to my future.

Maria Sharapova

Tennis has always been a big challenge to me and to be able to play that kind of tennis - well, only tennis can produce these feelings for me.

Steffi Graf

With all the lead tape, my racquet is heavier than the model you're going to find off the rack. It's got most of its weight in the throat of the racquet; it's not too head-heavy. I don't like the feeling of a racquet that's so head-heavy I can't maneuver it around so well.

Kevin Anderson

I was in a movie for five minutes where I play tennis and I was given five tennis lessons for free. I never had a tennis lesson. I was like, that's awesome! When else would I have taken up tennis?

Margot Robbie

I grew up playing tennis. My father has a tennis court at his home in Bel Air and I was always watching him on the tennis court as a kid, he was a fanatic. I started playing seriously around ninth grade.

Redfoo

If I was the type of person who had tennis, tennis, tennis all the time and I went to bed and ended up dreaming about tennis, I would go nuts.

Marat Safin

It means everything, definitely. I mean, it's Wimbledon. Tennis here is tennis history. Centre Court is always great to play on. I really feel like I'm at home. I was really up and down after my title here in 2011, but I still worked hard and believed in myself, and my team believed in me as well.

Petra Kvitova

My mom played tennis for, like, six hours a day and went to college on a tennis scholarship, because that was the way she could go to school. So they instilled in me the idea that you have to work hard for the things you want in life and never complain.

Dakota Fanning

It was tennis that got me started in business. When I was 16 and about to embark on my A-levels, I set up a tennis academy and became one of the youngest qualified tennis coaches in the country. It did well; by the time I was 19 I was able to buy my first house.

Peter Jones

My family are tennis coaches, and they always brought me to the tennis club. I basically had no other option than to start playing tennis.

Dominic Thiem

After almost 30 years of playing this sport, I've learned something. I've learned that, no matter what happens, or happened... or where you are, or where you've been... at the end of the day: tennis is tennis. It's always, always tennis. And there's nothing better.

Venus Williams

All my life I'd woken up to tennis, tennis, tennis. Even if I don't go to practise, I'm thinking about it all day.

Serena Williams

For me, it is easy, I love sport. Tennis is something I enjoy. I love playing tennis. For me, working out is pure pleasure, every day if I could play tennis, I would love it. I have been doing this since I was 2 1/2-years-old, it is quite easy.

Gael Monfils

A Quote by Arthur Ashe

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