There Is A Syndrome In Sports Called

If I Don't Ask "why Me?" After My Victories, I Cannot Ask "why Me?" After My Setbacks And Disasters.

It Is Not Just The More Talented Player Who Wins. Some Players May Try A Little Harder.

True Heroism Is Remarkably Sober, Very Undramatic. It Is Not The Urge To Surpass All Others At Whatever Cost, But The Urge To Serve Others At Whatever Cost.

Do Not Feel Sorry For Me If I Am Gone.

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.