Playing tennis, I didn't tie in my self-worth into winning or losing matches.
Martina NavratilovaRead
What matters isn't how well you play when you're playing well. What matters is how well you play when you're playing badly.
Interpretation
True character is revealed in tough times, not just during success.
This quote by Martina Navratilova emphasizes that true excellence and capability are measured not by our performance during favorable conditions but rather by how we handle challenges and adversity. It highlights the importance of resilience and perseverance, suggesting that maintaining composure and effort when facing difficulties is what truly defines our skill and determination.
In practice
Use this quote in a motivational speech to inspire athletes facing tough competition.
Playing tennis, I didn't tie in my self-worth into winning or losing matches.
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.
To those people doubting Serena Williams, writing her off - do not do that to a champion.
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.
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.
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.
I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.
We will be relentless in our pursuit for perfection. We won't ever be perfect - but in the process we will achieve greatness.
'Whiplash' scared me. I feel you should only do projects that scare you to some degree. I get motivated by those sorts of feelings.
Sky is the limit and you know that you keep on,_x000D_ _x000D_ Just keep on pressin on._x000D_ _x000D_ Sky is the limit and you know that you can have_x000D_ _x000D_ what you want, be what you want.
Rather than having small smart tricks to get by, focus on holding on and persevering.
Why shoot for the moon? It matters because when you try to do something radically hard, you approach the problem differently than when you try to make something incrementally better.
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