"She is the greatest female athlete of all time" - Maria Sakkari has high praise for Serena Williams ahead of Wimbledon return
WTA
WTA star Maria Sakkari reckons Serena Williams is the greatest female athlete in the history of sport as the American returns to action this week after a lengthy injury layoff.
Williams, 40, hasn't been in action since injuring her ankle in her first-round loss to Aliaksandra Sasnovich at Wimbledon last year. She's now all set to return to the tour, albeit in doubles, at Eastbourne International this week, playing with Ons Jabeur.
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Sakkari, who grew up watching the Williams sisters - Venus and Serena - feels the latter's return can only be good for the game.
"I grew up watching Serena and Venus because my grandma is a tennis freak," Sakkari said. "I just feel like it's very good for tennis that she is back and I think that it brought a little bit more suspense."
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The Greek added that no player wants to face Williams, widely regarded as one of the greatest female tennis players in history.
"I'm sure that everyone wants to avoid her, especially if she wins a few matches," she said. "She will start feeling good about her game, and she is Serena Williams. She is the greatest female athlete of all time."
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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