Sakkari was very upbeat about her chances at Roland Garros and Wimbledon; however, Roland Garros proved to be a massive disappointment as she lost in round two. Wimbledon was a bit better, but she lost in round three, another blow to Sakkari.
She opted to sit down with her coach and understand what the problem was, and the realisation was a hard one to swallow:
"I just sat down with [Coach] Tom [Hill] for a lot of hours and just realised that I'm not enjoying being one of the best players in the world, which was something callous to admit and very tough to handle. But it's the truth. It's the reality. I think that the pressure and everything was something I had to deal with."
Third seed Maria Sakkari will face off against wild card entrant Sloane Stephens in the second round of the Canadian Open on Wednesday.
Sakkari has had a good season so far. She has reached a career-high ranking of World No. 3 and has accumulated 27 wins while facing 15 defeats. The Greek player hasn’t been fortunate on the title front, winning her sole WTA title at the 2019 Morocco Open. Sakkari, however, has reached some critical stages in various tournaments in 2022. After a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open, Sakkari made it to the final of the St. Petersburg Open, where she faced a tough loss against second seed Anett Kontaveit 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-5.