Greek tennis sensation Maria Sakkari once more quelled any rumours that she and her compatriot and teammate Stefanos Tsitsipas were a couple.

In an interview on Greek TV and journalist Nikos Hatzinikolaou on his night talk show “Enopios Enopio”, the 24-year-old clarified the two tennis prodigies were only friends.

“It’s exactly the same as with two actors who feature in the same TV series. It is immediately assumed they are a couple. It’s exactly the same. Just because we never had a partner they took it for granted that we were a couple.” Maria explained the time when the rumours started to surface. “This started when we were playing doubles together. Right there, with the kiss he gave me when the match was over, which was completely natural. He felt like it at that moment because we beat Federer and he had beaten him for the first time, it was before Australia, that’s were all the rumours took off.”

Commenting on Tsitsipas and his potential, she said the sky was the limit. “I think that for him there is no ceiling, he has proved it to us many times. I believe that he will reach number 1 sometime and has all the skills. I am very angry with people who, when he loses a match or two, which is human, immediately say ‘he was a firework, a launch’. I believe it’s very bad to label him like that. We are one of the best couples in tennis today because our game style fits.”