Maria Sakkari won’t be surprised if Stefanos Tsitsipas wins Australian Open: Netflix, Break Point, tennis news

No Greek tennis player has ever been the last man or woman standing at the end of a singles Grand Slam event.

But in 2023 we shouldn’t be surprised if we see the history books rewritten. That is according to Maria Sakkari.

The 27-year-old superstar from Greece will enter her eighth consecutive Australian Open when the tournament gets underway on Monday.

After a “hectic year” which saw her reach a career high rank of number three in the world, Sakkari only managed to go further than the third round at one Grand Slam.

“Obviously a lot of ups and downs but it was very helpful that I finished the year strong,” Sakkari told news.com.au.

“It made my off-season very pleasant and a very nice time to relax. Now I feel ready for another season.”

Currently listed just outside the top 10 on betting markets to be the last woman standing, it’s her countryman, Stefanos Tsitsipas, that she believes could become the first player from Greece to be holding a Grand Slam trophy aloft.

“I would be very happy for Stefanos because he deserves it, he has been in the top 10 for the past few years from a very young age,” she said.

“We got to spend time together on the court the past few weeks at the United Cup, he’s playing unbelievable and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does win this Grand Slam because his level is the best I’ve seen him play.

“But it would be amazing if we could win at the same time. It would be like Euro 2004 when Greece won. It’s going to be very big for the country.”

Tsitsipas is currently listed as the equal third likeliest player to take home the Australian Open trophy, behind Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev while being on the same line of betting as Nick Kyrgios.

Unlike Tsitsipas however, Sakkari features in Netflix’s new series Break Point which gives fans a look behind the curtain into the players lives on tour.

The series, which launched globally on January 13, showcases some of the games biggest stars and gives fans an unrivalled insight into their lives and careers.

While the series aims to emulate the success of Netflix’s smash hit Drive to Survive, the market for choosing players is far bigger when it comes to the world of tennis.

It was an arduous task but one executive producer Paul Martin said all came down to the stories behind the players.

“Our biggest thing is story and where we think we’ll be able to tell the best kind of story,” Martin said to news.com.au.

“We don’t look at these worlds and try and tick demographics. It doesn’t work like that, if you try and do that you run into trouble.

“If we’d have applied that logic we never would have had Ons Jabeur from Tunisia and I think she’s one of the breakout characters of the series.”

Martin rattled off a host of moments from the series that stuck out as his own personal favourites but it was one from an Aussie that he remembers the best.

“You’ll see it in the second half of the season, Ajla Tomljanovic when she faces down Serena Williams in one of the most hostile atmospheres,” Martin said.

“I don’t think there was a person in that stadium probably above and beyond her dad that wanted her to win that game.

“The way she was able to walk in there and perform the way she did was phenomenal and I think by the end of it had won the respect of entire crowd.

“To be in the stadium that night was a pretty special moment.”