Maria Sakkari is entering the Australian Open with big expectations as she admits she is hoping to become a Grand Slam champion at Melbourne Park.
Sakkari, 27, is set to make her eighth Australian Open appearance.
So far, Sakkari has twice made the round-of-16 at Melbourne Park.
Sakkari, who had semifinal appearances at the French Open and US Open, is hoping to make her big Grand Slam breakthrough at the start of the 2023 season.
“I want to win the Australian Open. I believe that I’m in good form, but you never know in tennis how things go. I’m going to try my best and try to stay as long as I can. I love Australia, I think you guys know that by now. I just want to spend the maximum amount of time here that I can,” Sakkari told the Australian Open website.
Sakkari in good spirits ahead of the Australian Open
Sakkari kicked off her 2023 season by representing Greece at the inaugural United Cup.
During the United Cup, Sakkari went 3-1.
After winning her first three matches, Sakkari picked up a surprise defeat to Martina Trevisan in the semifinal against Italy.
“I can tell you it’s a lot better than last year. Last year I was in Adelaide. I didn’t want to be there. I felt like the gap between the WTA Finals and Adelaide was very, very small last year. I was not used to that. It was very emotional, you know, the end of the season, and I just was not ready to start again (in) 2022. This year I had the experience from what I felt last year to try and, you know, handle it better,” Sakkari explained.
12 months ago, Sakkari made her second Australian Open round-of-16 before losing to Jessica Pegula.
Sakkari is ranked at No 6 in the world and she is definitely considered as someone who could make a deep Australian Open run.