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Maria Sakkari reveals Daniil Medvedev is someone she "looks up to" as he finds the Russian to be "a very clever and intelligent" individual. After winning her first WTA 1000 title in Guadalajara, Sakkari had a message for her critics and doubters.
In Guadalajara, Sakkari snapped her six-match losing streak in the finals and also won her first title since 2019. Medvedev, a former world No 1, is well-known for his pretty blunt and honest statements to the crowds and hecklers "We live in 2023.
Social media is a part of our everyday life. You cannot avoid it. Coco said she knows the user names. I know them, too. I know the person with a YouTube channel who posts all my semifinal losses, all my final losses. I'm aware. The satisfaction now, I cannot describe it.
When you prove all these people wrong, it's fuel. For me, it worked as fuel. I knew it was going to come, I didn't know when. Thank you to them. They gave me strength," Sakkari told WTA Insider.
Sakkari told by WTA Insider she sounded like Medvedev in those comments
"He's someone I look up to (laughs).
He's very clever, and he's very intelligent," Sakkari responded.
After lifting the biggest title of her career and improving to two WTA titles, 28-year-old Sakkari highlighted she wants to achieve more before retiring.
"I can tell you that it was very tough all these years, especially the last two years that I've been a top-10 player. Everyone kept saying, Ah, she's top 10, top 5, top 3, and she has only won one 250. Finally I just can shut their mouth in a way (smiling).
Obviously there's still a long way to go. I don't want to stop in the two titles. But I'm just happy for myself that I could overcome this and I can just prove to myself that I'm capable of achieving big things," Sakkari said in her post-match press conference after winning Guadalajara.