QATAR TOTAL ENERGIES OPEN

February 24, 2022

Maria Sakkari

Press Conference

M. SAKKARI/C. Gauff

6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Talk us through the match today. You must be really thrilled with the consistent form you have been showing in all of your tournaments recently.

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, I'm actually, you know, very happy with where my game is right now. I'm just enjoying myself, enjoying my tennis, and I think it was a very solid match today from my side.

You know, I had to come up with some very good tennis throughout the match, because Coco is a very tough opponent. I'm just, as I said, very pleased and very excited to be in the semifinals.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. After St. Petersburg, obviously a great final there and great week and then you took the week off to kind of rest, recuperate, and get ready for this tournament. Can you talk through a little bit of what you did that week, what your reaction was coming out of St. Petersburg? What do you think was the key to getting yourself right back into things in Doha?

MARIA SAKKARI: As you can imagine, it was a very disappointing, you know, loss. Even though Anett played very well, I knew that I was very close in winning that title.

Just took, you know, three days off. Just, you know, did nothing basically (smiling) with zero tennis. Then I had to come back on tour, because I had to get ready for this tournament.

I think, you know, the sooner you get rid of all these negative thoughts after losing a final, the better you'll bounce back. I think that's what I did really well after my final loss.

I just came here and chilled with my team. My boyfriend is here, which helps a lot. I'm just enjoying my time here.

Q. This week with respect to then starting up again, playing, getting into the rhythm, you haven't dropped a set, back into the semifinals of another large tournament. At what point did you feel this week that things were okay, you know, that your game was still there, still reliable, that even if you felt negative coming out of St. Petersburg that it was all good?

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, I mean, it always takes 24 hours for me to get just in a good mindset again. So Monday night I was, you know, I was fine. Just needed physically to get a good rest, because my semifinal/final was, in total, six-and-a-half hours probably.

But, you know, this tournament did not start the way I wanted. I was in the hospital all Monday morning. I had a very sharp pain in my lower stomach. I just didn't know if I was going to be able to play this tournament, because I was very, very bad, like I was dying. Three hours before the match, I just left the hospital and, Okay, I'll go try and play and see what I can do (smiling).

Three days later, I'm just in the semifinal, which that shows me that -- that gave me actually a lot of confidence, because it shows how much mental strength I have and of course physical strength, as well, because, you know, it was a very tough Monday morning, I have to say. Tuesday, sorry.

Q. Are you feeling 100% now?

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, yeah. I'm good. Not 100%, but I still get, you know, aches and pains on my stomach, but I'm a lot better. You can tell that I'm in good shape. With the way I played today and yesterday, I'm feeling good again.

Q. You just talked about confidence and how much confidence it does kind of give you not just to get this result but the way the week started and, you know, all that sort of stuff. What's the biggest kind of type of confidence, I suppose, that you take out of being able to get another result like this?

MARIA SAKKARI: As I said before, because this week was a very strange week, even today before my match, Tom was like, Look, I'm very proud with the way you have handled, you know, the pain you had and the whole situation with being in the hospital and then coming out and playing. You know, we did not expect you to play, so we are very proud of you making the quarterfinals.

I think they are even more proud with the way I played today. Yeah, that clearly gives me so much confidence because of the reasons why I said before, because it shows how much mental and physical strength I do have. Sometimes we are humans and we can forget that (smiling).

It was a good reminder after a tough loss last week to remind myself that, you know, you have some very good things in your body and in your brain (smiling).

Q. I was going to ask that, just because I know how focused you are, how intense you are, how obviously seriously and professionally you take your career and your losses and your wins, all that sort of stuff, but I'm curious, does a week like this, especially, again, based on what happened in St. Petersburg, based on how things started for you here, is there any sense of like it's not that complicated? Like sometimes I just need to show up and play, be focused, be fit, all that sort of stuff, but it doesn't have to be -- yeah, compared to not just at the start of the year but compared to three years ago, four years ago, how you approached this stuff?

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah, you're right. Because especially being one of the top tennis players right now, I feel like I'm here for a reason. I'm here because my tennis is in a very high level.

So it's not like I don't have to show up on court tennis-wise. It's just that sometimes I don't have to do that much in order to win. It's just that emotionally and mentally you have to be there all the time, of course, but sometimes you don't need 100% of your tennis to win matches.

So I think obviously for the reasons why I said earlier, my tennis was not great on my first-round match, but obviously today's match was a lot higher and a lot better.

But you're right. I mean, you know tennis very well. You watch more tennis than us, I'm pretty sure, so you're spot-on on that, because that's the way you need to kind of like save energy in order to, you know, go deep every week.

Q. Looking ahead, obviously Iga or Aryna. They are both powerful players. Can you kind of distinguish or explain how their power is different when you play against them?

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah. I mean, I can, because I have played both of them many times. Iga has a spinny game. She likes to have more time. She likes to run around with her forehand.

Her serve is very good, but it's more, speed-wise, it's lower than Aryna's, but she places it well. When Aryna, she does have one of the best serves, but it's more about power and of course makes, you know, she wins a lot of easy points from her serve, but it's a different, you know, return that I have to hit out of their serves.

Obviously Aryna likes to hit the ball hard, likes to have, you know, strike first and likes to, you know, be on top of you.

They are two different players where, you know, now I know how to play both of them. But as I always say, you know, I just have a few hours to rest and enjoy today's win. Tomorrow it's a new day.

I'm just very, very excited. I'm very proud that I'm able to be here today and talk to you.