Mark Petchey says he will be backing Maria Sakkari when she takes on Johanna Konta at Wimbledon
"It's my first professional coaching job since Andy Murray and I've really enjoyed it"
Thursday 3 August 2017 22:26, UK
Mark Petchey admits he will have to be on "Maria's court" when Greek prodigy Maria Sakkari takes on Johanna Konta at Wimbledon on Friday.
The British No 1 Konta pulled out all the stops to win an enthralling marathon clash against Croatian Donna Vekic 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 10-8 while the 21-year-old from Athens defied her world ranking of 101 to knock out 44th-ranked Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-4.
Despite Sakkari's progress in the sport - she also made the third round at the Australian Open in January - tennis still lags behind football and basketball in Greece. Even her match on Court 14 on Wednesday failed to translate into a live television event back home.
But she is expected to get full coverage on Friday, while Petchey, who joined her team as a coach on a temporary basis to help her prepare for the US Open in September, says he will be backing the youngster, whose mother, Angeliki Kanellopoulo, was once a Top 50 player on the WTA tour.
She asked me when she split up with her coach at the French Open if I could help and I said yes. I've loved it actually
"I'm in Maria's court for this one," said the Sky Sports tennis analyst. "I've got to know Maria very well over three weeks. I'm helping out Lawrence Frankopan, her agent, the same agent as Stan Wawrinka.
"She asked me when she split up with her coach at the French Open if I could help and I said yes. I've loved it actually. It's my first professional coaching job since Andy Murray [2005-06] and I've really enjoyed it.
"It's been a great challenge, she's been on the cusp of not being in the US Open the whole time we've been working together and that's been a real goal to make sure she gets direct entry into the tournament at Flushing Meadows and hopefully she will be.
"I think she has a lot of potential. She's certainly fulfilling it this week and she's an amazing competitor. She gives you nothing, a terrific mover around the court. But anybody that makes the third round of a major you have to be wary of because they're going to be confident, feeling a lot better about their game, and obviously from Maria's point of view it's another step up in class."
But Petchey is unsure whether or not he will extend his deal to stay on as Sakkari's coach with busy family and media commitments taking up his time.
"I've really enjoyed it," he added. "As I said, I haven't coached since my time with Andy on the ATP Tour, I've had a couple of offers but it has never been the right time.
"I've really liked working with people like this who just love the game and I think she has a lot of potential at 21. She's probably just about scratching the surface, but we'll discuss the future once the present is over."
Mark Petchey was speaking to Raz Mirza at Wimbledon. For those on the move, we will have Wimbledon covered via our website skysports.com/tennis and then click through to our dedicated section skysports.com/tennis/wimbledon. On the move? Head to our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkySportsTennis to join in the conversation. Who will win the All England Club titles this summer? Have your say...
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