THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 3, 2024

Maria Sakkari

Press Conference

M. SAKKARI/A. Rus

7-5, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Maria, a bit of a frustrating day with the weather, but how pleased were you with your performance when you did get on the court?

MARIA SAKKARI: I was very pleased that I managed to finish the match today because that was one thing that I was worried about. Obviously, I could not control it. My only way I could control it is just finish the match in two sets.

You know, we're used to it. It's British summer. Coming from Greece, it's not the nicest weather, but it's for everyone, so we have to be able to adapt.

Q. If you are playing Emma Raducanu next. You might be under a roof, and the weather won't be a factor. What do you make of that opportunity to play Emma on home turf, if you like, her home turf?

MARIA SAKKARI: I think the opportunity is for both. She's also playing a top-10 player. Let's not forget that. She's an unbelievable player. She's very talented. She's very promising. Even after winning a Grand Slam, she's still very young. Obviously, she's going to be the favorite because she'll be playing home. If anything, that's normal.

But I'm excited. It's another challenge. That's why we play tennis. That's what we play for. It's going to be pretty exciting. I'm pumped.

Q. You thrive off of those type of moments yourself, don't you, those big occasions?

MARIA SAKKARI: It's a third round match.

Q. The arena perhaps that you'll be playing on, maybe No. 1, maybe on Centre.

MARIA SAKKARI: I've never played on Centre, so it's going to be amazing. I've played in big courts. I played on Arthur Ashe. I played in Indian Wells, which is the second biggest court. Obviously, here it's different because of the Royal Box and everything and the people that come to watch you.

I don't feel like it's something new for me. I've been a top-10 player for the last three years or even more, so I've played in big courts. It's not like I'm just coming into this and it's my first time.

Q. You've played Emma once before. I guess not the best memories for you. What do you remember from that meeting?

MARIA SAKKARI: It's not like it's not the best memories because I still had a good run. Obviously it was meant to be, I think, that week. It was written in the stars for her, and she took that opportunity. That's always going to stay there.

It's amazing that she can -- whenever she's done with tennis, even if she doesn't win anything else as big as that one, it's something that happens once every probably 100, even more than 100 times. It's a very proud moment for her and for her country, and it was a great memory.

It's not like my loss at the French Open. It hurt me more than that one.

Q. What was it like facing her that day just the way she was playing? As you say --

MARIA SAKKARI: Oh, I don't remember. I'm sorry. It's been too long, no.

Q. Have you seen anything of her in the last kind of three years?

MARIA SAKKARI: Not really. I watch tennis. I watch a lot of tennis, but she also hasn't played too many tournaments.

Obviously you go on social media. You see highlights of points, but I haven't really watched any of her recent matches this year or the years before.

Q. There's been quite a few withdrawals of the top players. It does feel like players like yourself might look at the draw and think, I could have a deep run here, there's an opportunity to go far because it seems very open this year. Would you agree?

MARIA SAKKARI: You know what, I haven't looked at the draw. I only know that I'm playing Emma in the next round, and that's what I'm going to focus on because every match is tough.

Like the girl today -- because we're only talking about the next match, we haven't spoken about today's match. The girl today, she surprised me. She was serving lights-out. She was playing very, very good.

Because I've played her five times before that, and only once I felt like under pressure. It was very tough. I had to come up with some very good tennis, and that's going to be the case for everyone that's going to go deep in this tournament.

So no matter who you play, you have to respect them. You have to accept that they're going to come up with amazing shots, an amazing game plan because personally if I don't play someone that's better ranked than me, I'm always going to be the target. So that's how it is I think.

Q. Are you struggling a little bit with (indiscernible) --

MARIA SAKKARI: I'm struggling a lot.

Q. Is it affecting you on the court?

MARIA SAKKARI: It didn't really affect me today. If anything when I'm sick, I play better, yeah.

Q. It's the weather probably.

MARIA SAKKARI: Yeah.