Maria Sakkari had a blunt reaction to seeing an X user expressing doubt about the Greek's ability to return to the top-10 after losing in Charleston early. .
On Wednesday evening at the WTA 500 tournament in Charleston, the former world No. 3 saw her campaign come to an end in the second round after Zheng Qinwen completed a 6-4 6-1 triumph in their match.
Sakkari, who entered Charleston ranked at No. 64 in the world, made the semifinal at the American clay event last year so she had a solid number of points to defend. And after failing to do so, she has fallen to world No. 81 in live rankings.
"Maria Sakkari will fall outside the top 80 now with this loss to Qinwen in Charleston... hard to imagine her returning to the top 10 tbh (to be honest)," the X post in question read.
Sakkari responded by asking, "Am I the first or the last thats coming back from an injury and is dropping points?"
Sakkari was ranked inside the top-10 before ending her 2024 season
Following a first-round loss at Flushing Meadows, the 2021 US Open semifinalist decided to call it a season due to a shoulder injury. At the time, she was still ranked at No. 9 in the world.
By the time the 2025 season started, Sakkari already plummeted to No. 32. And since she is only 7-12 this year and failed to defend final points in Indian Wells and the already mentioned Charleston semifinal points, her ranking decline continued. However, it is still early in the season and the Greek definitely still has lots of time to turn the page and return to where she wants to be.
Since Sakkari won't have manypoints to defend in the second part of 2025, that will be her biggest opportunity to rapidly improve her ranking.
