It was the kind of loss that can either make or break you.
Maria Sakkari was through to her first major semifinal, looking at ease on the terre battue of Roland Garros. Her countryman, Stefanos Tsitsipas, had matched her in the men’s draw, and all of Greece was toasting their success. Opa!
She had dispatched two Top-10 opponents in defending champ Iga Swiatek and 2020 runner-up Sofia Kenin, and now held a match point against Czech baseliner Barbora Krejcikova, up 5-7, 6-4, 5-3. But the Athenian, who first picked up a racquet at age six, the daughter of former WTA pro Angeliki Kanellopoulou, began to tighten up, and before she knew it, the match—and with it the opportunity to play for the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen—had vanished.
She was devastated.
“I lost my identity,” confided Sakkari last week in New York. “That’s how I call it. I lost myself, part of myself."
One of the tour’s true aggressors, a fit, formidable opponent known for her ‘til-the-last-ball fight, had gone timid when it counted most. The days and weeks that followed weren’t easy. There were plenty of tears on the practice court; her coach, Tom Hill, and her brother/hitting partner, Yannis, doing their best to raise her spirits. There were visits with her sports psychologist, too, some serious mid-career soul-searching.
Watch: Meet Maria Sakkari's Coach, Tom Hill
The ‘bravery’ Sakkari so often references, began to return the moment she touched down in Queens, New York, where she suddenly finds herself the first Greek woman through to the US Open semifinals. To get there, the 26-year-old has had to tap into that self-belief, that fearlessness, outmaneuvering no fewer than three Top-10 seeds in No. 4 Karolina Pliskova, No. 6 Bianca Andreescu and No. 10 Petra Kvitova.
Her late-night/early-morning, streak-ending upset of Andreescu, the 2019 titlist, lasted three-and-a-half hours and ended at 2:13 a.m. local time, the latest women’s singles match in tournament history. But Sakkari, a self-described morning person, didn’t mind losing a few hours’ sleep.
“I just wanted to be more brave, and that’s what I did,” she said.
Her run in Flushing Meadows has gotten second billing to the Cinderella-story headlines of Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, 19, and the U.K.’s Emma Raducanu, 18, the youngest US Open semifinalists since Maria Sharapova in 2005. Raducanu, Sakkari’s next opponent, is only the fourth qualifier ever to appear in a Grand Slam semifinal.
Sakkari, however, has no teen-envy to speak of.
“I think I’m the best age of my career,” she said. I’m more mature than before. I think every single player has a different timing of breaking through. Now it’s probably my time at the age of 26. I came in late to the tour. I was not a good junior. I was not a star when I was 18 or 19 years old. I had to work and sacrifice a lot from my life. But it’s now paying off.”
If Sakkari defeats Raducanu, she will move into the Top 10 for the first time. Should she go on to claim her first major singles title on Saturday, she would become the world No. 4. Opportunities abound.
Watch: Semifinal preview, Sakkari vs. Raducanu
