“I cried in practice after the French Open loss” Maria Sakkari opens up after a tough late-night victory in the 4th round of the US Open 2021
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Maria Sakkari
Maria Sakkari and Bianca Andreescu played a classic thriller in the 4th round of the US Open 2021 with Maria eventually winning the match 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-3 with the match lasting for 3 hours and 30 minutes. The match finished at local time 2:13 am, breaking the record for the latest for a women’s match at the US Open.
Maria qualified for the 2nd Grand Slam quarter-final of the season after having reached the semi-finals at the 2021 French Open. She had faced a first-round defeat at the 2021 Australian Open and a second-round defeat at the 2021 Wimbledon. Her qualification to the quarter-finals is the 2nd best Grand Slam result achieved by the Greek star.
Maria Sakkari analyses her match against Bianca
Speaking about her preparation for the battle with Bianca who was yet to lose a match at the US Open before this, Maria talked about how she came into the match and how she planned her game after Bianca got injured midway through the match.
“It was an incredible match. I didn’t think I had control of the match till the middle of the second set, it felt like she was better than me but then somehow I dig in and found a way to just turn things around. As I mentioned on the court, I was more brave after a certain point of the match and got my energy level higher and I just won,” said Maria.
“As I said on the court, I told Tom and my team before the match that I’m prepared for 7-6 in the 3rd set. Seriously, I never thought that Bianca would be like 6-4, 6-1 unless I hit the winners left and right, but because she fights every single point, I knew that it was going to be a very tough match.
“When you see your opponent getting injured, you have to try and stay focused because if you look at the other side of the net and you see that someone is hurt, you can get very stressed about it. You don’t want to make them run for the balls, it’s complicated. I stayed focused on myself and did simple things and didn’t complicate my tennis on the third set and that’s why I got the win,” added Maria.
“I lost my identity and I lost myself” Maria opens up about her fight to stay mentally fit
Maria came very close to her first Grand Slam final at the 2021 French Open but was defeated by eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova in the semi-finals in what was arguably one of the matches of the tournament. It was a bitter defeat for the Greek who had a tough time dealing with it and talked about how she overcame that.
“It’s been something I have been working on with Tom since the end of last year. I felt like I lost that bravery after the French Open, I was more hesitant and I was not going for it so much, so after my loss with Angie, I practised for two weeks, I had some very tough practices where I was crying because I couldn’t feel my thoughts and my tennis.
“But thankfully I had Tom and Janice, my healing partner that supported me a lot because I lost my identity and I lost myself. With my psychologist, I found a way to come back and feel what I felt out there today. So by telling myself to be more brave, it’s a process in practice and everything that has helped me to be more brave,” added Maria about her mental battles.
Maria will now take on Karolina Pliskova in the quarter-finals of the Slam with the match scheduled on Wednesday.
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Sarthak Shitole
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