More from John McEnroe

You don't have to win to be part of something truly magical.

JM

John McEnroe

Stanford University Commencement, 2023

21:03

Video starts at 21:03 — the moment this quote was spoken

The Story Behind This Quote

In 1980, McEnroe and Björn Borg played one of the greatest Wimbledon finals of all time — three hours and 53 minutes of intense tennis. McEnroe lost in five sets. He gave everything he had but wouldn't trade that moment for anything. Years later, he met Nelson Mandela, who told him he had listened to that match on a tiny radio from his prison cell on Robben Island — the whole prison hung on every point. That they gave Mandela a brief respite from the excruciating hell of 27 years of political imprisonment meant more to McEnroe than any award he ever won.

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