Maria Sakkari is officially done with tennis in 2024 as the Greek is shifting all of her focus on recovering from a shoulder injury and being ready for the start of the 2025 season.
After not playing since the US Open and sadly being forced to skip Guadalajara where she was supposed to return as the defending champion, the former world No. 3 also skipped back-to-back WTA 1000 tournaments in Beijing and Wuhan. And now, the 29-year-old probably determined that in these circumstances, the best thing is to put a curtain on the year because pushing a return could possibly lead to her aggravating the injury and then it lingering her next year.
Before the final Slam of the year, Sakkari missed all of the hard-court events that took place leading up to the US Open. At Flushing Meadows, she attempted to play but retired injured after Wang Yafan won 6-2 the opening set of their first-round meeting.
The Greek, who went just 21-14 this season and plummeted to No. 22, acknowledged that it wasn't the year she was hoping would be. However, she remains positive that she can use certain things as a lesson and have a big bounce-back year in 2025.
"For the last few weeks, my main focus has been on recovering from my shoulder injury. Unfortunately, due to this, I will have to end my season earlier than planned. I will be back stronger and pain-free. Thank you all for your support. It's been a challenging year, but it has taught me a lot as well. See you soon in Australia," Sakkari announced through a message posted on her Instagram Story.
Sakkari again battled anxiety and panic attacks on the court
Over the last couple of years, the 29-year-old has been one of the best in the game and pretty much a regular top-10 member before she started to deal with these injury issues. And with that being said, one of the most stunning things in women's tennis is the stat that the former world No. 3 hasn't made a Grand Slam round-of-16 since the 2022 Australian Open.
Since then, Sakkari has had multiple runs in Slams which ended in the first or second rounds. This season, she was hoping to change that. But it didn't happen as her Major results included a second-round showing at the Australian Open, a Wimbledon third round and first-round exits at the French Open and the US Open.
The loss at the French Open was the one that left the Greek especially baffled since she was dominating Varvara Gracheva early in the match before the world No. 67 stunningly came back to win 3-6 6-4 6-3.
After that loss, Sakkari admitted once again that she was dealing with "psychological problems" at the Slam level.
"It's the first time I don't know what to say... I've been feeling very well these days. It was very sudden for me too, I started feeling intense anxiety before the match. I would really like to give the right answers, but all I have to say is that I have been very well these days. No matter what set I played, no matter what practice I did, everyone could see that I was fine," the 2021 French Open semifinalist told SDNA after the Gracheva loss.
"It's definitely psychological, purely. It's nothing else. I won the first set and I kept getting nervous. My pulse was very high throughout the match, especially until the middle of the third set. I was feeling a panic, it's not like I won the first set and relaxed. Maybe if I had broken the first game of the second set things would have been different. But what can we say now?"
Sakkari wants to end her Slam drought badly, but it negatively impacts her
Even during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, there was a lot of talk about the Greek not managing to do well in Majors. And all of that got to the 29-year-old and she started putting too much pressure on her to end those talks.
"It's purely psychological, I'm not hiding. I will not look for excuses. I put too much pressure on myself, not to lose another match in the first or second round of a Grand Slam. Everyone around me tries to tell me that it happened in New York too, but then I recovered. However, it is not the same. I've recovered and I'm playing well in the other tournaments, but it's proven that I'm not playing well in the Grand Slams. I feel it's one thing, another thing," the former world No. 3 admitted earlier this year.
For Sakkari, the key now is to return to being fully healthy so she can then focus on trying to make some big results in 2025.
