Daniela Hantuchova
Daniela Hantuchova
Daniela Hantuchováis a Slovak tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA tournament, the Indian Wells Masters, defeating Martina Hingis in the final and becoming the lowest-ranked player to ever win the tournament. She also reached the quarterfinals of that year's Wimbledon Championship and US Open, ending the year in the top 10. She was part of the Slovak team that won the 2002 Fed Cup and the...
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth23 April 1983
CityPoprad, Slovakia
Im really pleased with my week so far, ... Its nice to do well here again. I think todays match was closer than the score reflected. Theres no special secret to how Im playing at the moment, Im just making sure Im doing the right things at the right time now.
It was a great time here in the States this year, and definitely I feel like I'm playing well again. I gained a lot of confidence in the last couple of weeks, and I just have to, you know, keep going and keep the momentum now.
Especially against players like Lindsay, I just can?t afford not to take those chances,
I've been playing really well the whole summer and it's very satisfying to start a tournament like this, ... I missed a few opportunities early in the first set but I just kept going for my shots and tried to stay calm and believe in what I was doing. She serves hard but I felt I was in control and it was just a matter of time.
Some players prefer to play one point after another. I prefer to take more time. There's nothing you can do about it.
Definitely I felt like I always played well in Tokyo, I like the fast speed of the ball, it's very similar to grass.
So many times in my matches, especially when I was coming up and I was really, really young and not having the experience, I was sometimes beating myself and not really playing the opponent.
She came out playing unbelievable. I don?t think there was much I could have done about that.
She proved she really deserves to be one of the best players in the world. She's just playing unbelievable tennis.
She is a dangerous player and also very experienced.
It means a lot. Finally I can say that I'm able to play and beat anyone, and it just gives me so much confidence. I had so many matches like this where I was really close to beating the top players and finally I did it today. I'm just really extremely happy about that.
I mean, it's been quite busy, especially with the rain delay the first few days, and then having to play the late evenings, waiting here every day. It's been kind of difficult.
I mean, every single time I was there with Mahesh, I just tried to learn something of his game, because he's, you know, one of the best doubles players that's been around ever.
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.