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Stefanos Tsitsipas Australian Open 2021
Stefanos Tsitsipas, Tennis News, Tennis Tournaments

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari ‘proud to fight for Greek gold’ despite singles pain


Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari both crashed out of the singles before the medal rounds, but are hoping to rectify that in their bid for mixed glory. 

The pair would have respectively had their sights set on individual glory, but are fully motivated to push for the podium as representatives for their nation.

Both exited in the round of 16, and both from a set up, but are into the quarter-finals after defeating the Canadian duo of Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

“I think it was painful for both of us to lose in singles,” Sakkari told the ITF. “But we gave ourselves a big smile at the end of the day [with our doubles win]. I think we deserve it and we are very happy to still be in the tournament.”

Both players are making their Olympic debuts in Tokyo, and are exceedingly proud to do so as well.

“We are both very honoured to play for our country,” Tsitsipas stated. “If [a medal] comes, then it’s a great day to remember.

“But so far, every single match that we get to play here, we are walking proud with the flag beside us.

“It’s something that we share a lot of pride in, and we have a lot in common as well. We are fighting, we are both very pumped at having this opportunity to be here and obviously we want to get the best out of it.”

The pair will next face the Australian team of Ashleigh Barty and Jonathan Peers for a place among the semi-finalists.


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