'She deserves a medal': Kovinic tips Sakkari for a dream Olympics
Maria Sakkari began her campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympic Tennis event with a one-sided 6-0 6-1 victory over Danka Kovinic, but the scoreline tells only a fragment of the tale.
While Sakkari showed the kind of ruthless intent that sums up her determination to give her heart and soul for Greece at Paris 2024, for Kovinic, it was a special moment just to be able to take her place on court.
Prior to today, the 29-year-old hadn’t played a competitive match since last year’s US Open due to a herniated disc in her vertebrae. The chance to represent Montenegro at the Olympics for a second time via a ‘universality place’ (the Olympic equivalent of a wild card) having become the first tennis player from her nation to do so at Rio 2016, was just too good to miss.
“I’m really proud to be back on court,” she said. “I was close to having surgery. I’m back here, not at 100% as you could see, but you know... I have to start somewhere.
“I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to represent my country at the Olympic Games. Because it's such an honour and something that we are fighting for, you know, dreaming of.”
Kovinic, who climbed as high as No. 46 in the world in 2016, has been waylaid by injury problems in recent years. She missed the chance to play at Tokyo 2020 because of her back, making her participation – and her starring role as flagbearer for Montenegro at the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony – a moment to savour.
“[The opening ceremony] brought great emotion – that night was special. It was rainy, but maybe it makes it more memorable.”
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For Sakkari, the Olympic Games means the world.
“Greece is the birth of the Olympics so for us, representing our country, you know, in this event is just something very special,” she said.
“We all want to go all the way and see ourselves with a medal. But that's, you know, that's very far in the future, and that’s something I can’t think about right now.”
The world No. 8 will, however, allow herself to look back at Games gone by.
Twenty years ago, aged just nine years old, she went to the opening ceremony at Athens 2004, and watched Justine Henin and Nicolas Massu win gold for their nations.
“I have great memories [of Athens 2004],” she reflected. “I went to a lot of tennis matches. In the final of the men, I was with my dad and brother in the crowd with all the Chileans. It was pretty intense, but a very nice experience.”
While Sakkari might not want to tempt fate and picture herself on the podium at Paris 2024, Kovinic, who embraced her ‘good friend’ at the net after their exchange, was happy to plant the seed in her mind.
“We are good friends, she’s a great girl, has great sportsmanship,” said Kovinic. “I told her she deserves a medal and she should go for it.”