The rise of Greek tennis – The Volley Podcast #4

With Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Roland-Garros final and Maria Sakkari reaching the final four, it’s exciting times for Greek tennis.

The latest episode of our podcast ‘The Volley‘ welcomes their compatriot Vicky Georgatou, in conversation with host Simon Cambers. Tennis is hogging the headlines in Greece ahead of all other sports at the moment – and Tsitsipas and Sakkari are the biggest sporting stars in the country.

“Everybody has been watching tennis!” Georgatou tells Cambers. “They are the most popular Greek athletes.” Georgatou has been following their careers since their inception. Despite Sakkari being three years Tsitsipas’ senior, they grabbed public attention at the same time.

“They started becoming well known at about the same time, around 2013, 2014,” says Vicky. “He was a young boy but everybody was talking about him, and Maria was trying to get into bigger tournaments… it was around the same time I met both.”

And Georgatou says that despite their contrasting personalities, they have some important similarities.

“They are really different. They are both very nice people, nice to talk to… Maria might be a little more mature, she’s a girl, everybody says girls mature faster. She’s older, almost 26 and Stefanos is almost 23. But they are both likeable, and especially now, after what they did here, everybody in Greece loves them.”

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