Tennis world number five reveals how Evangelos Marinakis made her a Nottingham Forest fan

Tennis world number five Maria Sakkari has revealed that she is a new Nottingham Forest fan.

The 26-year-old, who is currently competing at the Nottingham Open, said she is "excited" to be supporting Forest after their promotion back to the Premier League.

Sakkari is from Greece and is a supporter of Olympiacos, so she is now adding Forest as her second club due to the Evangelos Marinakis connection. She revealed she was "happy and excited" after the Reds confirmed promotion at Wembley at the endo of last month.

Speaking after her latest victory at the Nottingham Open, she told BBC Radio Nottingham: “Nottingham Forest. They’re owned by a Greek person who owns my team in Greece, Olympiacos. It’s a great connection and I will be supporting them next season.

“I’m excited because we have a lot of history in Greece but obviously the Premier League is different. I was happy and excited for them when I saw that they qualified and they’re in the Premier League now.”