Advertisement
At the 2020 Western & Southern Open, Serena Williams appeared poised for victory. After taking the first set 7-5 and gaining a 5-3 lead in the second, the match seemed within her grasp. But Maria Sakkari had other plans. With relentless energy and mental toughness, the Greek player turned the tide. She won the second-set tiebreak 7-6(5), then dominated the third set 6-1, leaving Serena visibly frustrated and emotionally drained.
In the post-match press conference, Serena didn’t hold back. Rather than deflect blame, she turned the spotlight inward, drawing a sharp comparison between her recurring in-game mistakes and repeatedly dating the wrong person. “I literally put myself in this situation,” she told reporters. Then came the now-iconic analogy: “It’s like dating a guy that you know sucks.” The room fell silent before murmurs turned into chuckles—because everyone got it. Serena was making her loss heartbreakingly human. She acknowledged that she had the match in hand, especially at 5-3 in the second and again with a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak, but somehow let it slip. Her frustration boiled over to the point of racket abuse, a clear sign of just how much this particular defeat had stung.
Days later at the US Open, Serena found herself face-to-face with Sakkari again. But this time, she flipped the script. In a grueling three-set battle, she took the win 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3. Her relief was obvious, and during her next press conference, she revisited the earlier analogy with a sense of triumph. “Thank God I got rid of that guy. Never want to see him again. He was the worst,” she said, laughing. That cathartic win wasn’t just about progress in a tournament—it was emotional closure.
Serena went on to beat Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarterfinals before falling to Victoria Azarenka in the semis. But that victory over Sakkari felt like a redemption arc in itself—a personal moment where she proved to herself that she could let go of the “bad boyfriend” version of her game and reclaim control when it mattered most.