Playing tennis, I didn't tie in my self-worth into winning or losing matches.
Martina NavratilovaRead
To those people doubting Serena Williams, writing her off - do not do that to a champion.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of not underestimating a champion like Serena Williams, even in the face of doubt.
Martina Navratilova's quote serves as a powerful reminder that champions, such as Serena Williams, should not be dismissed or underestimated, especially during challenging times. It highlights the resilience and strength that great athletes possess, encouraging supporters to have faith in their abilities rather than succumbing to negativity or doubt.
In practice
In a motivational speech about perseverance in sports.
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.
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.
When you make a lot of money, it just means you made a lot of money. It doesn't make you a better person.
Lawrence has a wonderful hill in it, with a university on top and the first time I ran away from home, I ran up the hill and looked across the world: Kansas wheat fields and the Kaw River, and I wanted to go some place, too. I got a whipping for it.
Nonviolence is an intensely active force when properly understood and used.
Many of us reject all of the inferior meanings and connotations that others project onto femininity - that it is weak, artificial, frivolous, demure, and passive - because for us, there has been no act more bold and daring than embracing our own femininity. In a world that is awash in antifeminine sentiment, we understand that embracing and empowering femininity can potentially be one of the most transformative and revolutionary acts imaginable.
The test of a people is what they can do when they're tired.
I was not athletically inclined. I was very quiet, introverted, non-confrontational. My three older brothers were athletes - basketball, football - but I was kind of a momma's boy. Then one day, my brother Roger encouraged me to go to the boxing gym with him. I tried the gloves on, and it just felt so natural.
Always do the right thing even when the right thing is the hard thing
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