This season has been a bit of a nightmare for Greece’s Maria Sakkari when it comes to playing at the Grand Slams.
The world No.8 heads into the US Open with just two wins at major events to her name this year which were both achieved in January at the Australian where she was beaten in the third round by China’s Lin Zhu. At Roland Garros, she lost her opening match to an in-form Karolina Muchova, who went on to reach the final. She also suffered a first round defeat at Wimbledon to Marta Kostyuk.
Sakkari is hoping to get back on track at Flushing Meadows where she was a semi-finalist in 2021. However, she has concerns about the type of ball being used at the tournament. Recently, organizers confirmed that they are switching the tennis balls for women’s matches so they are the same as the ones used in the men’s draw. The move was triggered after some complained last year that the women were playing with an inferior product.
“I’m generally pretty good, but there’s been a change with the balls and I haven’t heard of anyone being happy,” Sakkari said during an interview with SDNA. “It’s been a very important week in Washington and overall I feel like I’m on the right track. Of course, I have said this many times! However, I feel it… I’m in a more relaxed mood.”
Sakkari has enjoyed mixed results on the Tour leading up to the US Open. At the Citi Open, she scored notable wins over Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula to reach the final before she was beaten by Coco Gauff. However, she lost her opening match at the Canadian Open to Danielle Collins and then her second match in Cincinnati to Muchova.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had such good wins, back to back. I was happy with how I was able to play and it was certainly disappointing to lose in the final, but it was a very positive week.” She commented on her Washington run.
“When you’re in the top eight and lose two Grand Slam first rounds, it hurts, it’s hard to swallow. Then, however, I had two very good weeks of training in Athens and got off to a great start to the US trip. I had a very good feeling before I left for Washington!”
Given her roller-coaster journey in recent months, the 28-year-old is taking a match-by-match approach to the US Open. She will begin her campaign against Rebeka Masarova who is currently ranked 71st in the world. Masarova was runner-up at the ASB Classic in Auckland at the start of 2023 but since then hasn’t been able to replicate similar results.
“It’s a more passable draw, but you never know. They are all playing very well, but certainly in the last two Grand Slams the draw was not so much in my favor!,” said Sakkari.
“I have only looked at the scoreboard out of the corner of my eye, because after losing the first two rounds at Wimbledon and Roland Garros, what I have in mind is winning the premiere. We’ll celebrate if I succeed, that’s what we said!”
Sakkari is the only Greek player – male or female – to have reached a US Open semi-final in the Open Era. She will play her first round match on Monday.
