Maria Sakkari has revealed that the love and support she received from colleagues and fans after her emotional press conference at the
US Open has helped her to continue in the sport.
Sakkari was the eighth seed going into the last Grand Slam of the year in New York. However, she faced disappointment from the beginning. In her first-round match against Rebeka Masarova, the Greek player took an early 4-1 lead in the opening set. However, her Spanish opponent fought back to win the match at Flushing Meadows in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, in one hour and 27 minutes.
This year, the furthest stage of a major that the 28-year-old has reached was at the Australian Open in January, where she was defeated in the third round. After this, Sakkari was ousted in the opening round of both the French Open and Wimbledon.
Sakkari on taking a break
Afterward, Sakkari was visibly downcast and upset during her post-match press conference as she addressed what went wrong for her and reflected on a difficult season at the Grand Slams.
"If I had played at least 5-10% better I would have won that
match, and these are the matches that I have to win, like, I cannot lose these
matches, there have been too many [defeats] for my level this year," she said.
Sakkari was also asked about how she planned to improve her results, to which she replied by suggesting she could take a break from the sport.
"I don’t know what I’m going to do, whether I’ll take a break or not," she said.
However, she has since decided to continue playing and is currently participating in the
San Diego Open, where she will play her opening match against Camila Osorio.
Sakkari says support helped her continue playing
Speaking at the WTA 500 event, Sakkari revealed that the love and support that she received from colleagues and fans was what motivated her to keep going in the sport.
"I didn’t know it [the US Open press conference] was being recorded. I didn't know it was going to get as big as it got, especially back home. The amount of messages, love and support from people back home and from a lot of my colleagues was very nice.
"I'm very thankful that I have people on the tour that support me like that. That was the main reason why I decided I want to keep going. They gave me a lot of strength. That was one of the nicest things I've felt in my career," she said.
