“I want to get back to where it was”: Maria Sakkari targets return to top form in Rome

Maria Sakkari is anticipating an interesting second-round duel against Elena Rybakina at the Rome Open, after making her debut at the second clay-court WTA 1000 of the season. The Greek player overcame a difficult opening match against Lilly Tagger 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 to reach the second round in Rome for the 8th time in her career.

The former world No. 3 is looking to consolidate her position in the upper part of the rankings and continue climbing, after a couple of turbulent years and irregular results. Currently ranked No. 47, Sakkari herself acknowledges that she is still far from the position she would like to be in.

“I want to get back to where it was. I'm not the type of player—no disrespect to others in the ranking—I'm not happy where I am right now,” she said to Tennis Channel after her opening-round victory. “That's my character. Even when I'm done with tennis, I don't like doing things halfway. I like being one of the best in what I do.”

“I might not achieve it, who knows, but I'm going to try my best to see myself there again. One thing I have to keep reminding myself is that what I have achieved in my life is pretty good already. Tom has been telling me to keep that in the back of my mind because sometimes I forget what I've done.”

The Greek player is starting to rediscover a better form, and on clay courts she has arguments to challenge the best players. Sakkari has reached semifinals in previous years in tournaments such as Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, the latter in 2021 after defeating Iga Swiatek along the way, which was the only defeat Swiatek suffered at the French Open between 2020 and 2024 (a 32-1 record in that period).

This time, Sakkari will face a difficult second-round challenge when she meets world No. 2 Elena Rybakina, one of the favourites for the title in Rome, where she already won back in 2023, and who has also been one of the most consistent players in 2026.

“Obviously she's in top form right now,” Sakkari said about Rybakina. “But the way I played after 7-5, 2-0 today, I think I barely made an unforced error. That's what I'm going to try to do with her: play my heavy game, make a lot of balls, move the ball on the court. I'm not going to give you any more inside secrets.”

“It's exciting to play these matches because that's what I'm looking for. It would be better to play them later in the tournament, but if I want to do well in those tournaments, I have to beat them no matter what round.”

Sakkari is rediscovering confidence on clay after earning her first win on the surface this year. She came into Rome with early-round defeats in Charleston and Madrid, and had only one win and four losses in the last three months.

“One thing I worked a lot on after Madrid, and something I didn't do well the last few years on clay, was bringing my margin a little bit more inside the court,” Sakkari explained. “I feel like I was trying to go for too big shots at times when I shouldn't.”

“It's what Iga said when she started with her new coach, that she wants to be that wall and that very solid player. I feel like that's what I've been missing the last few years on clay. Obviously my version, but very similar to what she said. That's what I really have to buy into, and I want to see myself playing that way.”

The Greek player explained that she expects to find greater consistency and is still aiming to reconnect with the level that placed her at the top years ago.

“Obviously I want to improve that consistency. I want to have tournaments like… I never had maybe the flashy results of winning tournaments back to back. But when I was top 10 for four years, I had very consistent semifinals, finals, semifinals. That's what I want to see myself doing again, and then eventually win the tournaments.”