Playing tennis, I didn't tie in my self-worth into winning or losing matches.
Martina NavratilovaRead
I didn't realize until I was doing commentary what a gladiator-like competition tennis is - other than no one dies. The crowd is waiting for the players to come, and they walk through the tunnel, and they get on the court, and they get out their rackets, their weapons, and now they start.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Tennis is a fiercely competitive sport that evokes a dramatic atmosphere, similar to that of gladiatorial combat.
Martina Navratilova's quote likens the intense competition faced by tennis players to that of gladiators in ancient arenas. It underscores the theatrical drama and pressure present in the sport as players prepare for battle in front of an eager crowd, emphasizing the psychological and physical demands placed upon them. The metaphor of wielding rackets as weapons highlights the seriousness of the match while reinforcing the competitive nature of tennis, where, while life is not at stake, the stakes can still feel incredibly high.
Themes
TennisCompetitionGladiatorsSportsPerformance
In practice
Example use cases
In a pre-match speech, one might reference how tennis is a gladiatorial battle that tests both skill and mental strength.
More from Martina Navratilova
All quotes →I just wanted to play tennis. It wasn't a job. It was an ambition. I knew I could make money at it. I was 18 - old enough to think I could do it, young enough not to consider the consequences.
Martina NavratilovaRead
To those people doubting Serena Williams, writing her off - do not do that to a champion.
Martina NavratilovaRead
I can teach many sports, but obviously, tennis is the one. When you do other sports, you see things from different perspectives: different footwork drills, body positions, angles and geometry. All that stuff is helpful, and so when I do other sports, I can see things, because once you know one sport, then the other sport becomes more clear.
Martina NavratilovaRead
So many athletes are afraid to use their platform to do the right thing and speak what they feel, and that's very depressing. Sure, they are afraid of insulting people and losing money because of it, and everyone wants to make the maximum amount of money in their lifetime. But at the expense of who you are? I don't know. That just wasn't in my DNA.
Martina NavratilovaRead
I am just sorry my own mother had to live under that regime for most of her life. I was lucky. I got out and, 14 years later, Czechoslovakia became a free country. So I feel anger, even fury, at this bloody system that ruined so many people's lives for no reason whatsoever.
Martina NavratilovaRead
Similar quotes
I cannot but feel that the one man, above all others, who deserves the eternal thanks of his own race, and all thinking people, for bringing about baseball’s greatest reform, is Jackie Robinson himself…Certainly baseball people should be eternally grateful for the contribution he made to his own people, and to the game.
Ford FrickRead
In Dortmund, they say the derby is more important than the championship. You can feel it around the game.
Jurgen KloppRead
The only football players in my time were fellows who really loved to play football. They were not in it for the money. There wasn't much money there. They would have played football for nothing.
Red GrangeRead
Maybe you're not having a thousand times more injuries, but there's an aspect to the purity of the game and the quality of the game that is played on grass that is different on turf.
Megan RapinoeRead
People always talk about Ronaldinho, and everything but I didnt see him today - I saw Henrik Larsson. Two times he came on - he changed the game, that is what killed the game - sometimes you talk about Ronaldinho and Etoo and people like that, you need to talk about the proper footballer who made the difference and that was Henrik Larsson tonight
Thierry HenryRead
We have tried to get closer to them, but we never copied anybody, we always tried to play our football
Arsene WengerRead