Commencement Address by Roger Federer

At Dartmouth College, the retired tennis champion offered his thoughts on winning and losing.

"In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80 percent of those matches," Federer said. "Now, I have a question for all of you. What percentage of the points do you think I won in those matches?"

The answer was 54 percent.

"In other words," he said, "even top-ranked tennis players win barely more than half of the points they play. When you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot."

He went on, "The truth is, whatever game you play in life, sometimes you’re going to lose. A point, a match, a season, a job….The best in the world are not the best because they win every point. It's because they know they'll lose again and again, and have learned how to deal with it."