ROLAND GARROS

June 7, 2021

Maria Sakkari

Press Conference

M. SAKKARI/S. Kenin

6-1, 6-3

Q. You said on court that you're no longer torturing yourself anymore. You've talked about it a little bit this week, your trip to the islands, learning to relax a little bit. Is that a new development, and how much do you think it's helping you here, and how much do you think it'll help you long-term in your career?

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, I think it's a common thing, actually, that tennis players do because we are playing week after week, so sometimes we do get disappointed. Sometimes we do get impatient. I caught myself being impatient and disappointed a lot of times throughout my career.

Just working with the right people, they have helped me a lot, exactly enjoying my tennis, and as I said, not torturing myself and rewarding myself instead.

After having a few days off, I just thought about it, and I just found a way to do it.

Q. You were obviously very excited at the end once that last point was played. Were you starting to get a little bit nervous? You served for the match, got broken. Your mindset of that moment, was it just you wanted desperately to just break serve to close it out and not have to serve for it again?

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, that made my life easier, obviously. You know, no one likes to go from 5-1, 5-4 and have to serve again for the second time, even though I was telling myself that even if she holds serve then trust your serve and go for it, and I would have found a way for sure. I cannot tell you that I would have closed out the set for sure because I don't see the future, yet, but yeah, I think I've done it a lot of times, so I could do it once again.

Q. Just wanted to ask you about your coach Tom Hill. Can you tell me how he's changed your mindset and given you a winning mentality?

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, I think having Tom by my side, he has helped me a lot, and I can see the difference between me as a player before starting with Tom and myself now with Tom. We have a very good chemistry. He's a guy that really understands and really supports me in every decision I make. I mean, it's just the fact that we have a very, very good chemistry, I think, and as I mentioned before, I think he's made -- he was made to become a top-level coach. I'm very lucky to have him by my side.

Q. Does it feel like it's been a long time, a long wait to get to this quarterfinal? You've been steadily improving, knocking on the door for a long time, a lot of third rounds, a lot of fourth rounds. Can you reflect on the journey to get to this point?

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, I mean, I was stuck in the third round a lot of times, and that was an obstacle that I wanted to just kind of like break that curse and make it to the fourth round. Now I'm excited to be in the quarterfinals for the first time.

I knew it was going to come. I didn't know when. But I think that I've been playing very good tennis, especially this year, and I don't see why not going any further, as well.

Q. You've outdone your mom. She reached the third round twice, you've gotten to the quarterfinals.

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, she actually messaged me and she was joking, she said, Oh, I forgot to tell you, when I was in the previous match, I'm so sad you broke my tournament best record. Obviously it was sarcastic and she was joking.

You know, I think she's proud of me, and she's enjoying her time, as well, watching me and watching me enjoying my tennis.

Q. I think most people would expect Iga Swiatek to move through in her match tonight and for you to play her in the quarters. Should that happen, what are your thoughts about going in against the defending champion?

MARIA SAKKARI: I mean, she's the defending champion for a reason. For sure she likes the court. For sure she likes the conditions, even though last year they were different.

We practiced here before the tournament, and Iga is a lovely girl. She's an unbelievable player. She's only 20 years old, and she has already won a Slam.

But you know, I've told that many times that no one is easy when you get to that point. Even if it's the No. 1 in the world, 10 or 50 or whatever, they are for some reason playing in the quarterfinals. No matter who I have on the opposite side, it's going to be an extremely tough match, so I'm going to enjoy the moment and play my tennis.

Q. I think that's back-to-back top-20 wins at a Slam for you for the first time ever. What does it take to back up the win like the one you had against Elise which was such a tough match and to be able to really put forth a better performance like you did against Sofia. What kind of mental approach do you need to be prepared for match after match that are so difficult?

MARIA SAKKARI: To be deadly honest, I was stressed before the match. I was nervous because it's a tennis match, so I want to win. But then on the other hand, I told myself, just go out there and enjoy. I know it sounds very calm and easy thing to do, but that's actually one of the few times I've told myself to enjoy a match. Especially after winning that match against Elise, playing the way I did, I think it was an extremely high-level match, that gave me so much confidence that I can do it again and again and again.

I just trusted my game and I went for it, and it worked.

Q. Describe the elements of your game that are working well. The first serve was extremely effective in pretty much all your matches, maybe not as much against Elise, but can you comment on your serve and how you feel like it's gone throughout the tournament?

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, I think the choices I make with my serve are the right ones. I've worked a lot on my serve. It's a thing that I usually spend for sure 20, 30 minutes a day on that, sometimes even more. But even during warmup when I'm warming up for my match, yeah, I will spend like 20 minutes for my serve.

I think it's a shot that because many of the girls are big and tall and I don't have the advantage of that, I just try -- we try to find ways where I can create a weapon, and I think we achieved that.

You know, now I trust my serve. I know it's a weapon. I have a lot of variety, which is great, as well.

It's a big advantage, I have to say, to have a good serve.