Maria Sakkari has been a fine player for a very long time, but she felt a particular kind of satisfaction after lifting her biggest trophy recently.
It was a premier WTA 1000 trophy that Sakkari recently won in Guadalajara. It was the biggest trophy she had ever won, but that wasn't that hard because, in reality, it was only the second one she's ever won. Sakkari had a very long title drought despite many chances to stop it, but it never worked out before this event.
Much has been said about Sakkari and her woes when the matches become high-stakes, but she finally got it done. It felt great for her because she finally proved all the doubters wrong and finally showed that despite the obvious problems, she has what it takes to win a big one.
We live in 2023. Social media is a part of our everyday life. You cannot avoid it. Coco said she knows the user names. I know them, too. I know the person with a YouTube channel who posts all my semifinal 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.
That satisfaction is well deserved, but it's time to back it up even more now. It's still been a not-ideal year overall for Sakkari, and she certainly doesn't want to stop at two trophies. The doubters will still keep doubting her, and the best way to shut them up even more is to deliver another one.
Whether she truly does it remains to be seen but for now she'll enjoy this well-deserved one from Mexico.