By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, August 23, 2022
"Going into the tournament, I always feel like—and I always believe—that I can win it. That’s my goal. I’m number three in the world for a reason," Maria Sakkari said.
Photo credit: Wilson
Major multi-tasker Maria Sakkari revs her competitive engine running in place between points.
Even when the ball isn’t in play, an energized Sakkari looks like a woman going places.
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World No. 3 Sakkari returns to New York City aiming for a deep US Open run a year after she contested Grand Slam semifinals in Paris and Flushing Meadows at her two favorite tournaments.
A year ago, a 17th-seeded Sakkari surged past Grand Slam doubles champion Katerina Siniakova and three Top 11-ranked players—two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu and US Open and Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova—to reach her first US Open semifinal where she bowed to eventual-champion Emma Raducanu. In her quarterfinal win over Pliskova a superb Sakkari won 22 consecutive service points on the fast Flushing Meadows court.
Times have changed and Sakkari arrives in New York as world No. 3 with high hopes despite posting a 1-3 record during the US Open Series swing. Sakkari lost her Cincinnati opener last week to qualifier Caroline Garcia, who went on to capture her 10th career title in the Queen City. Still, recent losses haven't diminished the Greek's passion for play. Sakkari practiced with Serena Williams in Cincinnati last week and has been hitting on the US Open courts this week.
“Going into the tournament, I always feel like—and I always believe—that I can win it,” Indian Wells finalist Sakkari told Tennis Now. “That’s my goal. I’m number three in the world for a reason. I believe that I am one of the best players in the world and one of the favorites for the tournament.”
While Sakkari’s North American summer hard-court season results may not seem ideal preparation, remember that a year ago Sakkari lost to Angelique Kerber in her Cincinnati opener then went on to post the best US Open result of her career.
We caught up with the Wilson ambassador Sakkari at the Wilson pop-up store on the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Sakkari, a Wilson’s Advisory Staff member, is part of the team of pro players who provide feedback and input on Wilson Racquet Sports products.
Sakkari plays with the Wilson Ultra v4 racquet. The new Wilson Ultra v4 will be available at the Wilson pop-up store at the US Open starting today and will be available at Wilson retailers globally next month.
In this Q&A, the 27-year-old Athens native discusses her Ultra v4 racquet, her view on the Wilson US Open ball that has generated strong opinion among some women, the state of her game, training with Serena Williams and her three essential exercises that help her produce her best tennis.
Tennis Now: Maria, you’ve been very successful playing with the Wilson Ultra v4. Generally, what qualities are important to you in a racquet? Specifically, what is about this Wilson Ultra that suits your game and helps you play your best tennis?
Maria Sakkari: I’ve been playing with the racquet, as you mention, many years now. I’ve had my greatest results with the Ultra racquet. It’s just something that I never want to change.
Obviously, the power, the stability, the flexibility—those are things that are all important in my racquet. I just grabbed the racquet a few years back and felt this is the racquet I want to use. So without even hitting many balls, I felt this racquet really fits my game. And obviously, since then, I’ve played with it and I haven’t even thought about changing. It’s been the perfect racquet for my game.
TN: Do you do any customization in terms of the weight, balance, grip, etc.? Or is the UItra you use similar or the same to the one people can buy?
Maria Sakkari: I do change the weight, a little bit, and balance of the racquet because everyone’s different in terms of their feel and how they want to play.
The grip also changes depending if you want it smaller or bigger. I personally play with a number two grip and an overgrip. So it’s better for me, even though I have a big hand, to grip the racquet. I like to use a grip with more angles. So yeah, these are the customizations I do with the racquet.
Photo credit: Wilson
TN: For a Grand Slam match, how many racquets do you carry on court? Are you a player who likes to change string tension during play depending on the conditions?
Maria Sakkari: I travel with eight racquets. Because we play best-of-three [sets] rather than best-of-five, I usually use my spare racquets every ball change.
Rarely will I send a racquet for stringing during a match. Maybe in a place like Madrid, that is high altitude. Guadalajara, there is also high altitude there. But usually, especially at like the US Open where I have the practice week, I know what I like in terms of the tension, so I’ll stick to that. That won’t change during a week.
TN: What’s your view on the Wilson ball? I know you played with it in Cincinnati and Canada. Players from Petra to Iga have expressed different views on the ball. What’s your view and were you able to practice with it before starting the North American summer season?
Maria Sakkari: Yeah, that’s the ball actually I practice with at home—the Wilson US Open ball. For me, it’s the perfect ball. Like, I don’t understand why people are complaining about playing with that ball. I don’t think what they’ve been saying makes any sense because that’s the ball we’ve been using for the last years. It’s always been a different ball [at the US Open] for men and women.
That’s the beauty of the sport: we play with different conditions, different balls every single week. It’s just that we have to adapt by maybe stringing tighter or maybe stringing looser. I can also go out and complain about balls used at different tournaments. It’s just the way tennis is—we have to adapt. And maybe accept that some conditions don’t suit you perfectly, but we have to adapt, that’s what we do as tennis players. So for me, the Wilson ball is great. We use it and I don’t get any pain in my arm like other balls. I have nothing but great things to say about the Wilson ball.
TN: You’re at the Wilson pop up store at the US Open. What are some of the cool things fans visiting the Open can do there these next few weeks? Are you practicing on-site or off-site at the Open this week?
Maria Sakkari: I think it’s great for people to come to the Wilson pop-up store and see all the racquets and all the accessories. I think Wilson is doing a great job. Regarding practice, I recently practiced on site. Only on training days only I might go off site. Because I like to train in the morning and have afternoons off. I think it's going to be a very nice week here in New York.
TN: You had a tremendous US Open last year beating three Top 11-ranked players—Kvitova, Andreescu and Pliskova—in succession to reach the semifinals. What is your goal for this US Open? How are you feeling physically and game-wise?
Maria Sakkari: Obviously, going into the tournament, I always feel like—and I always believe—that I can win it. That’s my goal. I’m number three in the world for a reason. I believe that I am one of the best players in the world and one of the favorites for the tournament.
I feel I need to focus one match at a time because Grand Slams are very long tournaments—two weeks. So if you start thinking of the future then you’re just going to get trapped in different thoughts. So I’m just going to try to do my best again here because it’s one of the best tournaments in the world.
TN: You’re an exciting player to watch, for me, because you have that unique combination of power and speed. Some players say you are the fastest woman in tennis. Were you always exceptionally fast as a kid? How do you train footwork and movement? Among all other women you faced, who do you consider the fastest?
Maria Sakkari: Uh, I was always very athletic since I was a young kid. I was on the track and field team at my school. I was always good in short distance and long distance. I was very athletic so I developed that with my fitness coach. He was a track and field athlete so I worked a lot on the track.
I believe my physicality is one of my strengths. I would say Coco Gauff and Simona Halep are great movers and two of the fastest players.
TN: The US Open is the climax of the Grand Slam season. What’s the most fun playing the US Open and what’s the biggest challenge about playing it?
Maria Sakkari: I’d say the biggest US Open challenge is you could end up playing at 10 p.m. at night and then going to bed very late. And then getting up late the next day and in that case then you may end up taking the next day off.
The energy of the US Open is very unique. You know, the atmosphere of the night sessions is special. Everything about this tournament makes it so special. Personally, the US Open and French Open are my favorite tournaments. These are tournaments I’ve done really well playing. And I love just spending time in New York City.
TN: In your bio, you often list Roger, Rafa and Serena as your tennis heroes. Can you share any Serena experience you’ve had?
Maria Sakkari: I played Serena in the Cincinnati tournament during the pandemic when it was played at the US Open. So we played then and again at the US Open. I won the first one and lost the second one.
We had a practice session in Cincinnati a few days ago after we both lost. Serena’s great. I’m very happy for her. When I found out we were gonna practice the other day, I was so excited. Because it’s gonna be her last tournament now here in New York and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For me, Serena is the greatest athlete of the Open Era. I really admire Serena and all that she has achieved.
TN: One of the things I respect about you is you’re a positive person. Whether you win or lose, you compete with class and you play with positive energy. How do you sustain positive energy during the course of a long year with so many ups and downs and how do you get yourself up when you’re down?
Maria Sakkari: Well, I have a great life (laughs). I do what I love. I have a great family. I have a great off-court life, which makes me very happy. I had some tough moments this year after going deep in Indian Wells, but I’m happy and going to start enjoying myself again like I did last week and the week before. I don’t see why being negative in anyway [is necessary] doing what I love.
TN: I was watching Lindsay Davenport on Tennis Channel the other day. Lindsay said she feels like 25 maybe 30 different women could win this US Open. Do you feel it’s that wide open? Or do you feel it’s more likely we’ll see a former Grand Slam champion win it?
Maria Sakkari: I think it’s the way Lindsay said it. There’s a lot of good players. There a lot of girls that can win the tournament. You see how high the level is like Caroline Garcia winning Cincinnati last week. The level of women’s tennis is very, very high.
I think we’re going to have great matches from the first or second round on. I’m going to try to be the person that lifts the trophy in two weeks time, but obviously it’s gonna very very tough because there are many girls that play well.
TN: You’ve posted very cool and creative work-out videos on Instagram that inspired a lot of people. You train so hard it is inspiring and motivating for many. Last question: What are three essential exercises you do—on or off court—that help you and can maybe help tennis players of all levels?
Maria Sakkari: I would say three of my favorite things to do during my fitness sessions are: I like lifting weights. I like squatting a lot. I like running on the track a lot. You know like 400 meters and 200 meters and just doing that again and again. Obviously, there’s like a lot of footwork exercises on the court—I just like doing stuff in the gym.