Australian Open: Maria Sakkari’s biggest battle is the voices inside her head

How do you solve a problem like Maria Sakkari? Admitting to her psychological battles in the latest season of Break Point, the truth may have set her free.

Maria Sakkari during her win in the first round of the Australian Open against Nao HibinoL Picture: Aaron Francis / Tennis Australia

Maria Sakkari lays herself bare in the Netflix documentary.

Admits she can be scared to step on to a court. Feels hurt by the cowardly slings and repulsive arrows of social media. Doesn’t always swoon at who she sees upon taking a squiz at the mirror.

Feels tempted to throw in the towel and quit the sport. But that’ll probably hurt even more.

Day one of the Australian Open gets underway when Andre Agassi, dressed like he’s seeking entrance to the first tee at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, in matching shirt, pants and shoes, joins Evonne Goolagong in delivering the trophies to Rod Laver Arena.

Agassi! What a player! He looks amused by the proliferation of bean bags, ping-pong tables and totem tennis around Melbourne Park. He has a jovial, backslapping chat with Carlos Alcaraz in the players’ corridor. Clearly, he’s a fan. Alcaraz! What a player!

The Australian Open is unique. As if a major has been plonked in the middle of an amusement park/music festival. You walk through a maze of pop-up restaurants, cafes, singers, dancers, musical performances and what appear to be all-day nightclubs before finding a court with Jannik Sinner on it.

In front of Rod Laver Arena, a guy on stage is tinkling the ivories and belting out, “If you like pina colada …” Tennis’ other majors are exclusively for the tennis.

There’s no water slide, for example, from the top of Henman Hill to the graveyard court at Wimbledon.

All a hoot. Sakkari is the second match inside the perfumed parlour of RLA. The Netflix star who needs to chill. The real intrigue ain’t the forehands and backhands. It’s the psychological battle she’s admitted to.

The schedule says we’re settling in for Sakkari versus Japan’s Nao Hibino but really, as ever, it’s Sakkari versus Sakkari.

She’s trying so damn hard to win a major. Perhaps she’s trying too hard, but how do you tell someone to start caring less?

Here she goes again. Trying to land a title that matters.

Andre Agassi speaks at the trophy arrival ceremony Picture: AFP

She’s 28 years old and a former world No.3. She’s dipped to be seeded eighth at the Open.

All her frustrations, disappointments, anger, anxiety, panic attacks, successes in lesser events and heartache at the majors have been revealed in the latest season of Break Point.

“There was a decline,” she says. “I lost my mind a little bit … Then I just started getting all of these panic attacks and there were just matches that I couldn’t breathe … I was in a dark place for six months.

“I was just mentally and emotionally empty. I was scared stepping on the court.

“I have all these people saying that when I get to the later stages of a tournament, I’m guaranteed to lose. That gets in your head. Because of this, I’ve had many tough moments … I see myself and I don’t like what I see.

“Sometimes I feel like I want to end my career, but I don’t feel like I have achieved everything that I wanted to.

“There have been times when I could not deliver that fighting spirit. It’s been killing me inside.”

Sakkari versus Sakkari becomes a 6-4 6-1 win to Sakkari over Hibino. Three hours before the match, she’s clubbing balls on RLA. Hits a mean ball.

She stretches for half an hour in the locker room. Twiddles her thumbs while waiting for Sinner to beat the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp.

She grins from ear-to-wear walking on to the court. Doesn’t look scared. Perhaps the truth about her inner turmoil shall set her free.

She’s nervous. Well aware she’s lost first-round at her last three majors.

Her attacks against Hibino have naught to do with panic. She’s an aggressive player with an imposing aura when the mindset is positive and she’s flashing her white racquet as if a magic wand. At her best, what a player!

“I know that I don’t deserve social media and hate messages,” she says. “I’m not going to waste my time and energy thinking about it. I cannot be afraid of failure right now.

“I know whatever your age you can improve and we always have opportunities to get better. We are not done yet.”

Sakkari is fit, strong, broad-shouldered and clear-eyed.

She could’ve won the 2022 French Open. Beat world No.1 Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals and held match point in the semi-final against Barbora Krejcikova, only to lose. Cue the slings and arrows. Krejcikova won the final like it was a dagger to Sakkari’s heart.

She’s covered herself in glory by being so vulnerable in Break Point and she’s also given her foes a reason to believe she’ll crumble if they can stay in the rumble.

Sakkari led 2-0 but stuttered to two-all, three-all, four-all.

There was an air of uh-oh, here she goes, imploding like she’s had one too many pina coladas.

Hibino was calm, capable and had a killer two-handed backhand. Sakkari grumbled to her entourage, “What am I doing? What am I doing?”

They looked at her as if thinking, how do we solve a problem like Maria? At 4-all, she coughed up a double fault. Uh-oh.

She snuck through the first set and ran through the match.

“A first-round, you’re always nervous,” she said.

“I lost three first-rounds in my last three grand slams so it was a difficult match for me emotionally.

“I’m glad I got the job done. I’m relieved. The first set, sometimes you have to win ugly. The second set wasn’t ugly.”

Netflix and chill.

If everything goes to plan at Melbourne Park, Sakkari will face US Open champion Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals.

She feels uncomfortable about only one of her documentary interviews.

The one in which she flips the bird and tells her critics, “f--- you!”

Now she says: “I was a little concerned with how the episode ended because it was not very ladylike to say the F-word.

“But for what they were asking me, it was very natural. I really hope I don’t come across like someone who likes to curse.

“I just think it’s nice for people to know what we go through and how hard our life is emotionally. Of course, playing tennis is a nice thing.

“It’s not hard. But it’s a very demanding sport. You just have to embrace it.”