Maria Sakkari (August 03, 2019)
Q: “Maria, take us through the match. After the tight first set that ended in a tiebreaker, 7-6, it seemed like you got frustrated in the second set. You were talking to your coach, what was going on out there?” A: “Well, I think I played really, really bad for the whole match. I was not even playing my minimum level. I think [Zheng Saisai] has a tricky game, which played a huge role in the match. And I think that my level was pretty poor today, after coming from a match win like the one yesterday [against Elina Svitolina].”
Q: “What do you think changed from yesterday to today’s preparation?” A: “Nothing changed, I think it’s just that maybe I was a little mentally fatigued after coming back yesterday from set and 5-2 down [against Svitolina]. So I think [that is] one of the reasons was that I was a little tired.”
Q: “What do you take out of this week then... going into the rest of your season and, of course, the US Open?” A: “Of course, I don’t feel like I played in any match, except maybe the first one, that I played lights out tennis. At the moment, I’m not satisfied from the tournament because I’m really sad with my loss today. But I’m sure, probably tomorrow, I’ll think things differently. I will see the good parts. I fought hard for two matches and came back from a step away from losing.”
Q: “How long does it take for you to get over a match. Do you dread on it for a day or two, or are you able get over it?” A: “No, not even for a day. Okay, until tonight, I’ll be a little bit upset with myself. But I think tomorrow morning, once I wake up and once I leave San Jose... I’ll be fine.”
Q: “What’s next? What’s your next tournament?” A: “I go to Toronto.”
Q: “How is [Zheng’s] game tricky?” A: “Slice, lobs, drop shots. The girl, her game is tricky. It’s not one of the nicest [games] to play, tennis-wise, I mean. She’s a super nice girl. Tennis-wise, she’s tricky and you don’t find these kind of players playing loopy balls at that level.”
Q: “The no pace ball, basically.” A: “No pace, her ball had no pace. We’re used to bang, bang, bang. So it’s quite tough, and you have to be ready to play. I didn’t know she was going to play like that because, to tell you the truth, I haven’t watched her for a long time. So I didn’t know she was going to play like that. I think I didn’t prepare [for] the match the right way.”
Q: “She did the same thing to [Amanda] Anisimova the day before. Whenever Anisimova would go to do a drop shot, she was able to counter it. And it ended up frustrating her to kind of get her off, and I’m assuming it did the same thing to you as well.” A: “I think it was not so much about the drop shots, it was more about those loopy balls that I was playing when I was under-12.”
Q: “Why do you think your serve was off today?” A: “That’s a good question. That’s the thing I have to ask my coach, because from inside the court, I cannot feel it. If I could feel what was wrong, I would change it. So I think probably maybe my legs were heavy. I wasn’t pushing enough, you know, to get the power and the height. So I think that was the main reason.”