"It’s the first time I don’t know what to say": Maria Sakkari lost of words after yet another disappointing Grand Slam performance

Greece’s tennis star Maria Sakkari stated that she had no idea what to say after suffering an early exit from the French Open. The 28-year-old lost in the first-round at the Roland Garros to France’s Varvara Gracheva with a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Monday.

Interestingly, the former world number three and current world number eight in the women’s singles category has only managed to play in the quarterfinals or beyond of a Grand Slam twice in her career despite playing in the main round 33 times.

Those numbers are astounding, to say the least, especially for a player who is often known as one of the best in the game currently playing in the singles category.

Sakkari, while talking to the media after the match, admitted that she no idea what to say anymore and also suggested that the results in big events is mainly down to psychological issues.

"It’s the first time I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I’ve been very well these days. It was very sudden for me too, I started feeling intense anxiety before the match. I would really like to give the right answers, but all I have to say is that I have been very well these days.

"No matter what set I played, no matter what practice I did, everyone could see that I was fine. It’s definitely psychological, purely. It’s nothing else."

"I won the first set and I kept getting nervous. My pulse was very high throughout the match, especially until the middle of the third setI was feeling a panic, it’s not like I won the first set and relaxed. Maybe if I had broken the first game of the second set things would have been different."

"But what can we say now?’ It’s purely psychological, I’m not hiding. I will not look for excuses. I put too much pressure on myself, not to lose another game in the first or second round of a Grand Slam."