© Getty Images Sport – Graham Denholm
Maria Sakkari agrees with Coco Gauff’s perspective that playing tennis is not real pressure but some other things that regular people face in their lives daily are real hardship. At the US Open, Gauff was asked how she was coping with all the pressure and expectations that were placed on her.
Gauff proceeded to explain that the real pressure and difficulty is not knowing where your next meal is going to come from or how you are going to pay your monthly bills. “I mean, there are people struggling to feed their families, people who don’t know where their next meal is going to come from, people who have to pay their bills.
That’s real pressure, that’s real hardship, that’s real life,” Gauff said.
Sakkari agrees with Gauff
“There are a lot worse things than losing a tennis match. Sometimes we’re too focused on losing a match or something going wrong in our tennis career & we don’t look at the outside.
There are people that are homeless, people that are sick, parents are losing their children, people that lose their siblings. I can name things that are so much worse than losing a tennis match. Coco is actually very right. I couldn’t agree with her more.
She’s very mature, she’s a very nice person. She has her feet on the ground, so she knows what’s happening in life. She’s right. it’s just that everyone focuses on their own problem. For us, losing a match is big. But compared to the outside, it’s something very small,” Sakkari said, via The Tennis Letter.
Maria Sakkari on Coco Gauff saying tennis isn’t real pressure compared to people struggling to feed their families:
“There are a lot worse things than losing a tennis match..
sometimes we’re too focused on losing a match or something going wrong in our tennis career & we don’t… pic.twitter.com/QiHmPMCQH6 — The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 12, 2023
Meanwhile, Sakkari had a difficult moment at this year’s US Open.
After losing in the US Open first round and picking up her third consecutive exit in Slams, Sakkari broke down in tears and hinted she may take a break from tennis. But Sakkari received a very strong support after opening up and she is now back in action this week in San Diego.
