"Now I have the bravery to do fine things"
About this Quote
There is something quietly radical about the word "now" in Sabatini's line. It frames bravery not as a fixed trait athletes are born with, but as a hard-won permission slip earned over time. Coming from a tennis icon whose game was often described in terms of elegance and power, the sentence reads like a pivot away from performance-as-proof and toward performance-as-choice. "Bravery" isn’t about stepping onto center court; that part is routine. It’s about stepping outside the script people hand you when you’re young, gifted, and watched.
The phrase "fine things" does sly work. She doesn’t say "big" things or "great" things, the usual trophy-room vocabulary. "Fine" suggests craft, taste, precision: the kind of excellence that’s less about conquering an opponent and more about honoring what you can make when you’re not ruled by fear. In an athlete’s mouth, it can also feel like a self-correction, a rejection of the idea that worth is measured only in titles. Fine can mean smaller, truer, more personal.
The subtext is liberation from expectation. Elite sports teach discipline, but they also teach caution: protect ranking, protect reputation, protect the story others have invested in. Sabatini’s "now" hints at a second career inside the same life - the moment when confidence finally catches up with capability. Bravery becomes less a dramatic gesture and more a mature freedom: to risk, to experiment, to disappoint people, to be more than a headline.
The phrase "fine things" does sly work. She doesn’t say "big" things or "great" things, the usual trophy-room vocabulary. "Fine" suggests craft, taste, precision: the kind of excellence that’s less about conquering an opponent and more about honoring what you can make when you’re not ruled by fear. In an athlete’s mouth, it can also feel like a self-correction, a rejection of the idea that worth is measured only in titles. Fine can mean smaller, truer, more personal.
The subtext is liberation from expectation. Elite sports teach discipline, but they also teach caution: protect ranking, protect reputation, protect the story others have invested in. Sabatini’s "now" hints at a second career inside the same life - the moment when confidence finally catches up with capability. Bravery becomes less a dramatic gesture and more a mature freedom: to risk, to experiment, to disappoint people, to be more than a headline.
Quote Details
| Topic | Confidence |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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