Maria Sakkari

“By telling myself to be more brave, it's not like, 'Maria, now be brave, and you're brave.' It's just a process in practice and everything that has helped me to be more brave.”

“When I was a child, I did swimming, running, ballet and even karate. But I got kicked out of karate class on the first day I went because I was laughing so much. It all just seemed so funny to me.”

“I think I'm growing, becoming a little bit more mature. Thinking in a better way when I'm inside the court, in a more positive way.”

“Growing up, I would never have expected I would be the face of a campaign of a racket. It is just very big for me and my tennis career.”

“Sometimes it's tough when you look at the opponent and if they're hurt, you can get a little tight.”

“I run a lot. I lift a lot. A bit of everything, I would say.”

“If I want to get back to the Top 10, I have to face some challenges, and I have to accept the fact that I'll have to go through some qualies.”

“My heart, my fighting spirit. These are the two things I'm mostly proud about.”

“I would definitely say that being nice to yourself is always a good idea.”

“I like the racket to be not very stiff, but not quite flexible - somewhere in between.”

“Kids are nice.”

“To be honest, it's not like I do a lot of track and field training.”

“It's going to sound a little bit silly, but ever since I was a young kid I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. That's the way I was as a character.”

“My career so far has been a marathon, not a sprint.”

“I was not a star when I was 18 or 19 years old.”

“My mom was a professional tennis player. She was the one who made tennis in Greece an actual sport.”

“The things I see in life are scary because I'm very observant.”

“We all know that I'm not one of the tallest ones, so for me was something that I really had to work on different ways.”

“Wimbledon is a beautiful tournament. The atmosphere is very different to any other. The fans are very educated on tennis.”

“Without fire you cannot win these matches - without heart, without courage, without just going for it and being brave.”