AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2023

Maria Sakkari

Press Conference

L. ZHU/M. Sakkari

7-6, 1-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Maria, just give us your overall thoughts on the match tonight.

MARIA SAKKARI: I think that my level was not good at all. I started the match by being very defensive and very, like, not hitting the ball, just being scared of playing my game.

You know, the other girl, she had basically nothing to lose. She was playing free. She was enjoying herself. She was playing very, very good.

Yeah, I had -- I mean, I didn't handle the situation well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Maria, tough luck today. It seems like just through this first week that it just seemed hard for you to relax and let the game flow. Would you agree with that? Do you have any sense as to why?

MARIA SAKKARI: I agree with you. I just don't know why. I mean, I think that I need to analyze why I felt this way because I have to say that the matches that I played at the United Cup, except the last one, which was, you know, for the reasons why I already told you. I don't even count it. I think I was playing really, really good under a lot of pressure.

Obviously, this is a Grand Slam, but at the same time I know that, okay, at the first round you don't have to expect yourself to play good, but then as the matches go on, you have to start feeling better, and that's something that I didn't feel personally.

It's something rare because it's different if I was, you know, like at the US Open that I wouldn't let myself play. Here I felt like even before the match, like, today when I was in the room, I was pretty relaxed. I don't know why I didn't let myself play my game.

Q. Do you feel as though, you know, one of the tricky things about the Australian Open is it's straight out the gate, players haven't had time to kind of play themselves into form, things like that? It's one of the tricky things about winning this slam. Is it just too early in the season sometimes, this major for you?

MARIA SAKKARI: I mean, it is what it is. That's how it is for the last, you know, seven years that I've been playing this tournament. That's never going to change. If you have trained well, you have to be ready and you have to be sharp.

I don't think that it's a matter of training personally for my game, but it's more psychologically I have to -- which I was in a very good place because I had a call with my psychologist right before the tournament, and I felt -- she also thought that I was in a good place.

I felt very good, and I was very positive. Like, I could picture myself going deep in this tournament, but for some reason things went the wrong way.

Q. Just one last question just about Zhu Lin. I know that you are not familiar with her. Many players on tour aren't as much. Was there anything out there that surprised you coming off of her racquet and what she was able to do tonight?

MARIA SAKKARI: She was barely missing any ball long and making any unforced errors. That's how I felt. She was very solid from both sides.

I've seen her on the tour. I've never seen her playing that well, to be honest. Of course, beating Jil in the round up before, and I didn't remember her moving that well as she did today.

But, obviously, you know, as I said, she was pretty pumped and, you know, motivated to have a good result here. She has achieved it already by beating two very good players already.