Maria Sakkari's partnership with coach, David Witt is reportedly over after only four months according to Greek publication SDNA who confirmed the information on Tuesday night.
Sakkari was dumped out of the Berlin Ladies Open on Tuesday by Victoria Azarenka with the Belarusian handing the Greek a crushing defeat 6-4, 6-2 in favour of the former World No.1. Now Sakkari seemingly has to do searching on a multitude of facets both in finding a new coach and finding answers for a slump as of late.
It was a really promising start to Sakkari's partnership with Witt. The American had priorly been a big catalyst in the rise of Jessica Pegula until they split earlier this year and so was a highly coveted coach. Sakkari joined forces with Witt during a crossroads in her career. She had reached the higher echelons of the WTA Rankings and found herself in the elite.
But the cost was that she then fell and was barely able to win first round matches. With Witt that changed as she reached the final of Indian Wells in their first tournament together. This was followed up with Last 16's or better in Madrid, Rome, Charleston and Miami. But the roadblock came at the French Open.
After previous success at the tournament and with her new coach seemingly gleaming the answers, she faced Varvara Gracheva but with a dismal Slam record, that scar tissue returned as she was dumped out in a 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 loss to the Frenchwoman who went on to lose to Mirra Andreeva in the latter stages. Highly touted for a run in Paris by some due to prior form, it didn't happen for her and now she has taken the decision seemingly albeit after one tournament.
Seemingly Witt wasn't in Berlin with her with Julien Kanina, her hitting partner acting as a coach. But no doubt going into WImbledon, she will aim to quickly remedy that. She parted ways with Tom Hill who was her long-time coach to team-up with Witt.
While Sakkari will look for answers again, Hill has seen his stock rise almost immediately with success coaching American talent, Peyton Stearns. The 22-year-old started to win games on the WTA 125k and 250k tournaments under the radar and then sealed Rabat last month. A tournament ironically also won by Sakkari in the past.
She reached the third round of the French Open losing to Mirra Andreeva. But it is a partnership that has born fruit so far. With Stearns not playing as of right now though with no warm-up yet set, could Hill go back to Sakkari or will the Greek plot a different course? All will likely be revealed in the coming weeks.
