Maria Sakkari (, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player.
She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the WTA (Women's Tennis Association), which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her the highest-ranked Greek player in history alongside Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Maria Sakkari was born on 25 July 1995 to mother Angelikí Kanellopoúlou, a former top-50 tennis player, and father Konstantinos Sakkaris, in Athens.
She has two siblings: brother Yannis and sister Amanda.
Her grandfather Dimitris Kanellopoulos was also a professional tennis player.
She was introduced to tennis by her parents at age 6 and moved to Barcelona at age 18 in order to train.
She has said that her favorite surfaces are hard and clay and that her favorite shot is the serve.
Growing up, her favourite players were Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Sakkari currently resides in Monte Carlo.
She is dating Konstantinos Mitsotakis, the son of the prime minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Sakkari appears in the tennis docuseries Break Point, which premiered on Netflix on January 13, 2023.
Her first two attempts to debut on the WTA Tour were unsuccessful.
At the Rio Open, she lost in the first round of qualifying to María Irigoyen, and later lost in the final stage of qualifying at Bucharest Open to Daria Kasatkina.
However, on her third attempt, she not only made her debut on WTA Tour, but it was at a major, as she qualified for the US Open.
In the qualifying, she beat Anastasija Sevastova, An-Sophie Mestach and Petra Martić, but then lost in the first round of the main draw to Wang Qiang.
After the US Open, Sakkari entered the top 200 for the first time, reaching a ranking of 185.
By the end of the year, she only played on the ITF Circuit and on the WTA Challenger Tour, where she reached semifinals at the Carlsbad Classic.
Sakkari ended the year ranked 188.
2016
Sakkari started the 2016 season with no-passing qualification at Brisbane International and Hobart International.
At the Australian Open, she first qualified, and then, in the first round of main draw, achieved a win against Wang Yafan.
That win was her first at the WTA Tour, as well as her first Grand Slam match win.
In the second round, she lost to Carla Suárez Navarro.
At the Mexican Open in Acapulco, she was eliminated in the first round by Johanna Larsson.
At the Indian Wells Open, she attempted to qualify for her first Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 tournament in the main draw, but failed in the first round of qualification.
In Miami, she succeeded to qualify, but lost in the first round of the main draw to Irina-Camelia Begu.
Her second win on the WTA Tour was at the Istanbul Cup, where she defeated top seed Anna Karolína Schmiedlová.
After beating Hsieh Su-wei in the second round, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal, where she lost to Danka Kovinić.
In Madrid, she failed to reach the main draw, losing to Patricia Maria Țig in the final stage of qualifying.
Competing the qualifying at the 2016 French Open, she missed the chance to play in the main draw, losing her first match to Grace Min.
Sakkari got through qualifying for Wimbledon and won her first match at that tournament, defeating Zheng Saisai, but then lost in the second round to five-time former Wimbledon champion, Venus Williams.
After this result, on July 11, 2016, she reached 97 in the rankings.
In Cincinnati, she lost in the qualifying to Zheng.
2017
Sakkari reached the semifinals at the 2017 Wuhan Open, where she defeated Caroline Wozniacki for her first top-10 win.
2019
Her career-best doubles ranking is world No. 169, achieved on 9 September 2019.
Sakkari has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, including a WTA 1000 title at the 2023 Guadalajara Open.
She is known for her aggressive, all-court style of play, centered around her strong serve and powerful groundstrokes.
In 2019, she reached another Premier 5 semifinal at the Italian Open where she defeated, among other players, Petra Kvitová.
2020
She served the sixth most aces of any WTA player in 2020, with 144 aces served in 31 matches.
In 2020, Sakkari reached the fourth round at both the Australian and US Opens.
In 2021, she reached the semifinals at the French and US Opens, making her the first Greek woman to reach a major semifinal.
