{"id":944398,"date":"2026-07-19T00:46:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T00:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/944398\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T00:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T00:46:21","slug":"maria-sakkaris-emotional-journey-my-mom-would-definitely-want-me-to-go-one-step-further-than-her-greek-city-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/944398\/","title":{"rendered":"Maria Sakkari\u2019s Emotional Journey: \u201cMy Mom Would Definitely Want Me to Go One Step Further Than Her\u201d \u2013 Greek City Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Athens, Greece \u2013 18 July 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maria Sakkari delivered a powerful performance at the Athens Open, qualifying for the final and stirring deep emotions as she reflected on competing in her hometown in front of family and friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Greek tennis star, who grew up in Athens, spoke with raw honesty after her semi-final victory. She described reaching the final as a personal celebration, regardless of the final outcome.<\/p>\n<p>Sakkari\u2019s Moving Statements<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll be able to articulate myself enough to speak. Really from the bottom of my heart, I haven\u2019t won the tournament yet obviously but for me it\u2019s a celebration because playing in front of my family and my people who have never seen me play a final, regardless of the result will be something unique, especially here in the city where I grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sakkari also paid tribute to her mother, who reached the final of the same tournament 40 years ago. With visible emotion, she added:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t know. I\u2019m sure Mom would also like me to go a step further than her, but as I said before, tomorrow will be a celebration for me and it would be really nice to win. This week has really been an incredible experience and we\u2019re going to pick it up tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The statements quickly resonated with Greek fans, highlighting the deep family bond and the special significance of competing on home soil.<\/p>\n<p>A Historic Week for Greek Tennis<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/2023\/06\/23\/maria-sakkari-greeks-country\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sakkari\u2019s<\/a> run at the Athens Open comes at a poignant time, as she aims to surpass her mother\u2019s achievement from four decades earlier. The atmosphere at the venue has been electric, with passionate home support fueling her campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tomorrow\u2019s final promises to be a memorable occasion for Sakkari and Greek tennis. Whether she lifts the trophy or not, the week has already become a heartfelt homecoming story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Athens, Greece \u2013 18 July 2026 Maria Sakkari delivered a powerful performance at the Athens Open, qualifying for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":944399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[48],"tags":[5539,380298,377157,380299,92292,380300,60889,380301,7843,62,1464,46186,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-944398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-athens","tag-athens-2026","tag-athens-open","tag-emotional-statements","tag-family-legacy","tag-greece-news","tag-greek-tennis","tag-home-tournament","tag-maria-sakkari","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-final","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116943885782248844","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}