"I wasn’t anywhere near": Sakkari aims for Muchova revenge after being in bad mental space in 2022

Maria Sakkari was once on the brink of making the Roland Garros final holding a match point against Krejcikova who ended up as the champion that year.

Had she won that match, Sakkari would have likely won the grand slam event and that would be a major thing for a player who has only one career trophy so far. Her struggles in big moments are quite known however she is looking to change that this year and has shown some promise in that regard winning a couple of big matches. Redemption is the storyline for her at this year's Roland Garros and she has the chance to make the perfect start.

Last year's Roland Garros exit came at the hands of Karolina Muchova with the exit a low point for Sakkari. She's opened up about her mental health struggles since then and finds herself in a much better place a year later. She will face Muchova in the first round this year which is the perfect opportunity for revenge:

“We all know that my draw is very tough in the opening round. But I’m very confident and very positive. You have to beat those players to win the tournament, so if it’s in the first round, second round, third round, it doesn’t really matter – if I can go through that then it’s going to give me a lot of confidence for the next rounds.”

Last year was very challenging in many ways but she's glad to be back having overcame those issues. To her it's been a learning experience:

“We played last year here, I was in a very dark place, mentally. wasn’t anywhere near compared to how I feel this year, mentally, physically, tennis-wise and everything. I was struggling a lot, there were days I didn't want to get out of bed. There are situations where I might get myself back into but now I know how to get over them, and I just feel like everything in life is a learning lesson. At the end of the day life is not just going up. You always have your ups and downs and I just have to accept that and get out of it stronger.”