By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday June 30, 2020
Three weeks after her breakout performance at Roland-Garros, Maria Sakkari is off and running at Wimbledon.
Photo Source: AP
Maria Sakkari had her best ever Grand Slam appearance at Roland-Garros this year, where she reached the semi-final at a major for the first time. The 25-year-old Greek became the first woman from her country to reach that far at a major, but her run ended in disappointing fashion when she squandered a match point against Barbora Krejcikova in the semifinals.
That difficult loss is the reason that Sakkari chose to not play on grass before Wimbledon. She says she needed time to disconnect and get out of the spotlight, so she went to southern Greece and practiced on grass until leaving for Wimbledon early to get accustomed to the conditions in southwest London.
Sakkari opened her fifth career Wimbledon appearance with an impressive service performance on Day 2, as she rolled past Arantxa Rus, 6-1, 6-1 to set up a second-round battle with American Shelby Rogers.
Tennis Now caught with the No.15 seed to catch up on her mindset, her form on the grass, and her feelings on the shock loss of her fellow Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round.
Tennis Now: That was an impressive serving performance today, Maria. You must be pleased to start off the tournament serving that way?
Maria Sakkari: Especially in the first set, it gives me a lot of confidence, the way I served, a lot of confidence for the second round.
It was my first match, so it went better than I expected, feeling-wise, but I was lucky to have some days of practice back home in Greece on the grass, then I came pretty early here to have a few practices with girls. It felt familiar even though no one played on grass last year, so it's been two years since we've played on the grass. The fact that I'm serving well and moving well - it helps a lot.
Tennis Now: Can you take me through your decision not to play on grass prior to Wimbledon?
Maria Sakkari: I think it was a wise decision not to play because it was a very emotional week [at Roland-Garros], especially the way it ended. I was just a point away from the final, I couldn't stop thinking about it for a long time. So I just needed some days off, and the fact that we went to a place south of Greece, practiced there, it's a very nice resort, had some good times there as well, practicing.
I got away a little bit from Athens and the whole spotlight, so it was very good decision to skip the tournaments, go there and just disconnect and refresh again.
Tennis Now: So in a way, even though you didn’t play, it was the perfect way to approach Wimbledon for you?
Maria Sakkari: I did the best I could. Of course it's ideal to have some matches before coming here, but I think that we took the right decision, that was the best, and it feels like it was the right thing to do.
Tennis Now: I wonder what you think about the first-round loss of Stefanos. Clearly this is just a blip in an otherwise upward trend, but what do you make of it?
Maria Sakkari: We are going to lose first rounds. He had an emotional Roland-Garros until the end, losing the final from two sets to love and then his grandmother passed away, so I think it's very tough for him to disconnect and connect again. It's normal - not normal, because he's the best player, in the best form right now - but I find it can happen to everyone and the fact that it happened to Stefanos now, I think it will make him stronger and we will see him very strong in the Olympics and in the US Tour, 100 percent.
Tennis Now: Speaking of Olympics, are you and Stefanos locked in for mixed in Tokyo?
Maria Sakkari: We're planning on playing but I don't know how the cut is going to be, it can be pretty high, but I guess with our combined ranking it's not going to be an issue, I think we will find out once we get there because that's when the list to sign in closes.