Maria Sakkari responds to Greek tennis social media post critical of her and Stefanos Tsitsipas

There has been a lot of talk and writing about the difficulties faced by Greek tennis players, Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Both players have fallen out of the Top 10 rankings this week following a difficult last 6 months. It can be argued that Sakkari and Tsitsipas have been extremely successful and have maintained their positions in the Top 10 for an extended period of time, which has set high expectations for Greek tennis fans.

Greek tennis player Maria Sakkari recently spoke out against criticism she received on the tennis website Tennis24. Despite normally maintaining a stoic demeanour, Sakkari felt compelled to respond to Tennis24's negative comment about Greece's low ranking in the tennis world. The website wrote, "A historic low for Greece in the men's and women's rankings in the last two and a half years," and even tagged Sakkari and fellow player Stefanos Tsitsipas in the post, which had over 1,000 followers. This came at a particularly difficult time for Sakkari, who was already dealing with a split from her coach and performance issues.

Sakkari's response took Tennis24 to task, not about her or Tsitsipas's performance or rankings drop but for another critical reason that is both admirable and patriotic.

What Maria Sakkari said

Sakkari wrote: "Did you give this much thought before writing it? Because of this, tennis will not go forward in our country. You are a joke !"

This type of social media scrutiny is not new or exclusive to tennis. Players of all sports are regularly criticized by "fans", gamblers, armchair athletes, and spectators. It is unfair, as these players are human beings and are not perfect. They are well aware of how they are performing. The fact that this criticism came within Greece irked Sakkari, who is concerned about growing the sport in her country.

Sakkari and Tsitsipas put Greek tennis on the map, and obviously, Sakkari wants their legacy to be for more young people to play and succeed at tennis in her country. In this context, she was correct to admonish the website by talking about a "historic low" as she and Tsitsipas are the engineers of the country's success.

Only today Greek tennis champion Maria Sakkari defeated world no. 23 Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-4 at the Dubai Open, securing a return to the top 10 of world rankings.

Read More -Greek Tennis Stars Sakkari and Tsitsipas: A Tale of Parallel Journeys and Shared History

Photos Nick Bourdo/GCT Images