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United Cup: The short luck of the number 803

Greece scored an unexpected extra point on Tuesday at the United Cup: through Stefanos Sakellaridis, who is in the top 800 in the world rankings.

by tennisnet.com
last edit: Jan 03, 2023, 08:41 am

Wer gewinnt? Tippt jetzt!
Stefanos Sakellaridis (centre) is right to celebrate
© Getty Images
Stefanos Sakellaridis (centre) is right to celebrate

Stefanos Sakellaridis is 18 years old and is listed in the ATP charts at position 803 in singles, in doubles the Greek is a few places ahead. For the first time, the United Cup 2023 offered Sakellaridis a stage to play with the big players. Whereby: Zizou Bergs, the opponent on Tuesday in Perth, still has to work a bit on his potential legend status.

Which initially didn't matter to the Greek team, which is top-ranked with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari at the front. Because the 5: 7, 6: 1 and 6: 3 for Stefanos Sakellaridis had no effect on the victory in Group A after Sakkari's success against Mertens, but it was still celebrated as if the teenager was in his second week at a major reached.

Everything depends on Tsitsipas and Sakkari

In fact, there isn't much going on behind the top guys in Greece. In recent years, Michail Pervolarakis has always started behind Tsitsipas, and he is currently ranked 506th in the world.

For women, things are not quite so bleak. Despina Papamichail is in 159th place. However, the imagination for big leaps forward is missing here: Papamichail is already 29 years old. From the Greek point of view, the best teenager is Sapho Sakellaridi - the sister of Stefanos Sakellaridis. From 309th place, the way to the top of the world is a long one for the 19-year-old.

And so in the end Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari always have to get the coals out of the fire. So far it has worked well in the United Cup.

by tennisnet.com

Tuesday
Jan 03, 2023, 10:10 am
last edit: Jan 03, 2023, 08:41 am