Maria Sakkari revealed that she absolutely loves playing doubles with Ajla Tomljanovic but admitted that Rafael Nadal is her dream mixed doubles partner. Sakkari, 27, rarely plays mixed doubles, and when she plays, it’s with fellow Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
At the 2019 Hopman Cup, Sakkari and Tsitsipas famously defeated Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic. Last year, Sakkari and Tsitsipas made the Tokyo Olympics mixed doubles quarterfinal. Sakkari acknowledged Tsitsipas is one of the best mixed doubles partners she can have but admitted she would love to team up with Nadal one day.
“I like playing with Ajla Tomljanovic, because she is my best friend. I have one of the best mixed doubles partners in the world, but I would love to play with Rafa,” Sakkari said in a video for the WTA.
Sakkari paid a tribute to Ons Jabeur
After beating Jabeur to knock the Tunisian out of the WTA Finals, Sakkari spoke about what this year’s Wimbledon and US Open finalist was able to accomplish and how inspiring she is to many Arab and African kids.
“We’ve known each other for many years, we were talking at the draw ceremony and said that we played each other a few years ago in Fed Cup and I was joking with her that she was dropshotting me all the time. We were playing in Montenegro, like Group III stage, there was nobody there, we were two just normal players back then but we’ve both worked our way to the top.
She deserves everything she has achieved this season, she has been doing exceptional things. I’m pretty sure back home everyone is proud, the African continent is very proud of her, the Middle East as well, but all over the world, what she has achieved is just very unique.
She’s an amazing player and it’s great to have players like her on the tour,” Sakkari said after the match.
