A horror month for Maria Sakkari has seen her drop over 50 places on the WTA ranking, with the tennis star now the world number 82, and it is a dramatic fall that compatriot Stefanos Tsitsipas is hoping to avoid.
Sakkari began the year much lower than what she had been used to in recent seasons, entering the Australian Open as the 32nd seed.
It marked a true shock to the system for herself and many fans, with the Greek tennis star having been the 8th seed in 2024, 6th in 2023 and 5th in 2022.
Her 2025 seed placement was her lowest since 2021 when she was 20th, which was enough of a sign to fans that she has been struggling of late.
The last month, however, has taken it to new extremes as she has fallen over 50 spots since March 3 when her ranking was 29.
Sakkari’s recent second round loss to current World No.8 Qinwen Zhang at the Charleston Open capped off a fairly disastrous month of tennis for the star that undid her great work around the same timeframe last year.
During March and April in 2024, the Greek made the quarter-finals in the Miami Open, the final of the Indian Wells Open and the semi-finals at the Charleston Open, earning over 1000 ranking points as a result.
In the 2025 editions of the same tournaments, she was eliminated in the third round at Miami and Indian Wells and the second round at Charleston, meaning she lost roughly 900 ranking points as a result.
Sakkari now sits in 82nd in the WTA rankings as a result, her lowest rank in many years, with her now facing an uphill battle to climb back up in events where she will now have to face much higher ranked players from the beginning rounds.
Stefanos Tsitsipas faces a similar challenge this week, though on a much lower scale, as he defends his Monte Carlo title.
The Greek superstar won the Masters event last year for the third time in his career, which came at the reward of 1000 ranking points.
The current World No.8 fought hard to restore his placement in the top 10, but a poor result at Monte Carlo could see that hard work go to waste and force him back into the teens.
Tsitsipas, a noted clay specialist, will not wish to concede any ground during the clay season as he seeks to build a strong foundation ahead of the French Open.
Tsitsipas did get off to a winning start in his Monte Carlo title defence by beating Australian Jordan Thompson in three sets.
The Greek’s draw also opened up immensely following Matteo Berrettini’s victory over top seed Alexander Zverev, meaning Tsitsipas now stands as the highest ranked player in his quarter.
Tsitsipas will hope to capitalise on the good fortune and seal at the very least a semi-finals spot which, even then, would not be close to matching the 1000 points awarded to the winner.
