AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2022

Maria Sakkari

Press Conference

M. SAKKARI/T. Maria

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Talk us through the match, your first win here in Melbourne.

MARIA SAKKARI: Sure. Yeah, I think it wasn't a pretty much from my side. I didn't feel great out there, but I found a solution, found a way to win.

She has a tricky game that sometimes it makes you feel uncomfortable inside the court. Yeah, it was a decent match. I kind of like survived.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You said on court last year you really felt like you belonged for the first time at this level. Did that belief come after your great results in the slams or before and that helped you get the great wins?

MARIA SAKKARI: No, it actually came before. I think that's why I got to play two semifinals in slams last year.

I started working a lot in my mind on how I can get all these negative thoughts and all this pressure away from me. Of course, you can never do like a hundred percent what you're trying to do, trying to achieve, but you can improve.

I proved myself that I have a strong mind. Yeah, I proved it on court actually.