Maria Sakkari re-hires former coach Tom Hill to regain lost form

Greece’s Maria Sakkari has rehired her former coach, Tom Hill, to regain lost form. The 29-year-old was once regarded as one of the best players in women’s tennis, but after suffering an injury and losing form, she is now out of the top 50 in the WTA rankings as well.

As per the Greek publication SDNA, Sakkari has rehired her former coach Hill, with whom she worked for six years. The duo ended their partnership in February 2024. During the partnership, the Athens-born tennis star was ranked in the top-10 in women’s tennis in the singles category for two and a half years. She went as high as number three in women’s tennis in March 2022. She also won two WTA titles during that time and reached the semifinals of the French Open and the US Open in 2021.

Sakkari has featured in nine events this year but has only managed to book a spot in the quarterfinal or beyond on one occasion. Her most recent outing was in the WTA event in Rouen, where she was knocked out after losing in the round of 32 to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro with a score of 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. The reigning world number 80 recently spoke in The Second Serve podcast earlier this month, where she admitted that it has been hard for her to start playing well after suffering an injury.

“I’ve been in a better place. But I’m happy that I’m healthy; that’s the most important thing,” she said. “It took a few years for me to get injured. I got my first injury at 29. So that’s partially a good thing, but on the other hand, it was tough to just accept things after coming back from an injury. My ranking obviously has dropped; I need to get it back to where it was. Not just because I want to be a top 10 tennis player again, but also I’ve been getting bad draws because I’m not seeded, I’m not high enough to avoid those players in early rounds. But at the same time, if you want to go deep into a tournament, you’ll have to beat those players no matter what round it is.”