By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday September 24, 2023
Three weeks after leaving a press convention in tears on the US Open, and expressing need to take a break from the game, Maria Sakkari has returned to the winner’s circle after a spectacular run to the title in Guadalajara.
The 28-year-old Greek might have been confused about what to do subsequent after dropping her third consecutive Grand Slam match on the US Open, however after that crushing loss in New York she took the time to look inward, and ended up rising from her funk with a smile on her face.
Full credit score to Sakkari, a persistent perennial top-tenner who by no means lacks for effort, even when she does typically show a penchant for sabotaging herself within the greatest moments. How else might we clarify Sakkari’s six-match dropping streak in finals, or her struggles in 2023? She’s just too proficient to wrestle so constantly in these defining moments.
After some soul-searching in current weeks, Sakkari realized that she has been being too onerous on herself. She made it some extent to smile and begin having fun with the game she loves as soon as once more.
Rating an help from American Coco Gauff – the newly topped Grand Slam champion has been preaching the identical method this yr, and it has paid off for her as properly.
“I actually appreciated what Coco [Gauff] mentioned on the US Open, about how different individuals have greater issues than we now have once we lose a tennis match, and he or she’s spot on,” Sakkari instructed WTA Insider. “I stored interested by that, and that gave me power.
“On the finish of the day, it is only a tennis match. I am wholesome, and that is an important factor. Everybody round me, my household, are completely satisfied and wholesome. These are the issues that I took a while to consider, to recollect what’s vital in life. Everybody focuses on their very own issues, whether or not they’re huge, small, vital or not vital. You neglect what is going on on in the remainder of the world.”
“I play tennis for a residing. That is fairly cool. I did not give myself an opportunity to get pleasure from it previously.
“I instructed myself, you owe it to your self to have enjoyable. And that is what occurred.” 🏆@WTA_insider speaks with Guadalajara champ @mariasakkari after her maiden WTA 1000 title 🗣️
— wta (@WTA) September 24, 2023
Haters get an help as properly. Sakkari admitted that social media critics have weighed on – and motivated her – throughout her current struggles.
“We reside in 2023. Social media is part of our on a regular basis life,” Sakkari instructed WTA Insider. “You can’t keep away from it. Coco mentioned she is aware of the person names. I do know them, too. I do know the particular person with a YouTube channel who posts all my semifinal losses, all my ultimate losses. I am conscious.”
“The satisfaction now, I can’t describe it. If you show all these individuals improper, it is gas. For me, it labored as gas. I knew it was going to come back, I did not know when. Thanks to them. They gave me power.”
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