Maria
Sakkari revealed that she was inspired by
Coco Gauff to win the WTA 1000
Guadalajara Open title after receiving hate messages.
Former
world No. 3 completed the best week of her career by clinching the second
trophy of her career, her first in the WTA 1000 category.
Maria Sakkari put
behind her six losses in finals and 24 in semifinals, advancing three positions
to world No. 6.
In the
final, she faced the tournament's surprise, Caroline Doleheide, who was outside
the top 100 and reached her first WTA tournament final. Sakkari, who didn't
drop a set during the tournament, recalled Coco Gauff's words after winning the
US Open:
“About how
other people have bigger problems than we have when we lose a tennis match, and
she's spot on. I kept thinking about that, and that gave me strength,” she
said.
“I really
liked what Coco said at the US Open,” Sakkari added,
In her
speech at the trophy presentation ceremony, Gauff reflected on the negative
comments she receives on social media:
“We live in
2023. Social media is a part of our everyday life. You cannot avoid it,” Gauff
said.
“Coco said
she knows the user names. I know them too. I know the person with a YouTube
channel who posts all my semi-final losses, all my final losses. I'm aware. The
satisfaction now, I cannot describe it. When you prove all these people wrong,
it's fuel. For me, it worked as fuel. I knew it was going to come, I didn't
know when. Thank you to them. They gave me strength,” Sakkari commented about
Gauff feelings.
“We’ve
waited more than four years for a second title,” she said while thanking her
coach Tom Hill.
“We’ve
heard so many bad things that I will never win a title, that I’m a top five
player with only winning one title. That was very hard for me to overcome and
I’m so happy I did it here this week.”
