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Motivation Quote by Daniela Hantuchova

"But just maybe sometimes being even more patient. Even though I thought I did that much better this year, and sometimes, you know, make my opponents play that one extra ball, and just knowing how to play the big points better"

About this Quote

It reads like a mid-match adjustment disguised as a personality trait: patience as both tactic and self-critique. Hantuchova isn’t selling a zen philosophy; she’s naming the thin, brutal margin in elite tennis where a season’s “much better” can still be exposed by one rushed forehand on a breakpoint.

The repetition and hedging - “just maybe,” “sometimes,” “you know” - signal an athlete thinking out loud, not delivering a slogan. That verbal softness is the tell. In a sport obsessed with winners and highlights, she’s praising the unglamorous work: forcing “that one extra ball,” extending rallies until the opponent blinks. It’s a quiet argument against the temptation to prove yourself quickly, especially for a player long framed by commentators as talented but streaky. Patience here isn’t passive; it’s a form of control, a way to turn nerves into math.

Then she narrows the lens: “big points.” That phrase carries an entire career’s worth of tape study and heart-rate spikes. “Knowing how to play” them implies that execution isn’t purely technical; it’s psychological scripting. What pattern do you trust at 30-40? Do you protect, or do you commit? By pairing patience with big-point management, Hantuchova is identifying the real battlefield: not baseline-to-baseline, but mind-to-mind, where the best opponents weaponize your impatience and your need to finish.

It’s a candid glimpse of high-performance humility: improvement acknowledged, standards raised, and the admission that the last leap is often the least cinematic.

Quote Details

TopicTraining & Practice
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Hantuchova, Daniela. (2026, January 17). But just maybe sometimes being even more patient. Even though I thought I did that much better this year, and sometimes, you know, make my opponents play that one extra ball, and just knowing how to play the big points better. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-just-maybe-sometimes-being-even-more-patient-74036/

Chicago Style
Hantuchova, Daniela. "But just maybe sometimes being even more patient. Even though I thought I did that much better this year, and sometimes, you know, make my opponents play that one extra ball, and just knowing how to play the big points better." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-just-maybe-sometimes-being-even-more-patient-74036/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"But just maybe sometimes being even more patient. Even though I thought I did that much better this year, and sometimes, you know, make my opponents play that one extra ball, and just knowing how to play the big points better." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/but-just-maybe-sometimes-being-even-more-patient-74036/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

Daniela Hantuchova

Daniela Hantuchova (born April 23, 1983) is a Athlete from Slovakia.

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