After her second match in Indian Wells, Maria Sakkari is still in contention in a tournament that suits her type of tennis very well and in which she is starring in comeback after comeback. On the last occasion against the Ukrainian Kalinina. The Greek sees herself with a lot of room for improvement and has confessed that the unforced errors she is making will be one of the things she tries to correct for the next game. These are her statements after going through the press room.
On what it’s been like to beat his last two opponents
“Obviously these are two players I’ve struggled with in the past and they’re both very good. I’m just on the court, my tennis isn’t where I want it to be. I’m making too many unforced errors from the baseline, but the important thing is that I’m finding a way to win and fight. That’s the only important thing, finding a way to win.”
Without playing in the most beautiful way, but winning
“I don’t care about winning like this. What really worries me is why I’m making so many unforced errors. But I feel like it’s something I can change overnight. I don’t think it’s something I’m losing sleep over. I’ve done it many times come back without playing tennis well”.
On whether it is difficult for her to put herself in the shoes of a fighter
“Last year there were a couple of weeks, one of them in San José where I simply couldn’t be on the track. I wanted to but I couldn’t. In Madrid I was also fighting big. So there were some that I do have a hard time being a fighter, but I’m human. I think I’m entitled to those kinds of weeks too. The last two games I started horrible, I was making a lot of mistakes. My energy levels were a bit low but then I felt like I couldn’t. I finally found a way to fight and come back. That’s different from last year, so I’m very happy.”
A positive balance of the start of the season
“It hasn’t been a perfect start to the season, but it hasn’t been bad either. I don’t want to hide, I basically have nothing to defend until Mexico, excluding this week. I think there are only positives to look at. I feel like I have a good chance to do it. I do well on clay, because my game is very good there. So, I had some very good wins, especially in Doha, where I played good matches. I always give myself a chance the next day to play even better.”
About her rival, Pliskova, her executioner in Dubai
“It’s going to be difficult. We’re playing in Dubai where the court is not good for my game and very good for hers. It’s going to be tough and it’s going to be very hot, because the ball flies very fast. You can’t expect an easy match even since the early rounds. Pliskova is serving high and she likes to hit hard, so I have to reduce my unforced errors. That’s not arguable against her. I’ll just have to be as solid as I can, because that’s something that’s going to help me. give a chance to win. Otherwise, she will dominate and take advantage of it.”
