"Tennis has to become everything to you if you're going to make it to the top. You have to live it"
About this Quote
The subtext is about cost. “Live it” isn’t just practice hours; it’s the way tennis colonizes your routines, your relationships, your nervous system. For a prodigy like Seles, who became world No. 1 as a teenager, that intensity was both engine and expectation. Every choice becomes a referendum on commitment: the meal, the sleep, the travel, the emotional regulation after a bad set. Her phrasing turns the sport into a lifestyle religion, with devotion as the entry fee.
Context sharpens the stakes. Seles’s career was famously interrupted by the 1993 on-court stabbing, followed by a long, complicated return. In that light, “live it” carries an eerie double meaning: tennis as purpose, and tennis as something that can swallow you whole. She’s articulating a truth athletes often dance around: the dream is real, but so is the demand it makes on your life.
Quote Details
| Topic | Training & Practice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Seles, Monica. (2026, January 17). Tennis has to become everything to you if you're going to make it to the top. You have to live it. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/tennis-has-to-become-everything-to-you-if-youre-75293/
Chicago Style
Seles, Monica. "Tennis has to become everything to you if you're going to make it to the top. You have to live it." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/tennis-has-to-become-everything-to-you-if-youre-75293/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Tennis has to become everything to you if you're going to make it to the top. You have to live it." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/tennis-has-to-become-everything-to-you-if-youre-75293/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.





