Look back at the career of any tennis player and there is a sliding doors moment when, unbeknownst to them at the time, their life changes course.
For Sonay Kartal, that moment came at the age of six. ‘So at my club, we used to do this thing called the lines game,’ she begins. ‘It’s like a little warm-up. They’d shout “service line” or “tram line” and all the kids had to run to that line.
‘That was always the first game and I was too shy for three months to actually come on court. The coach, Julie, finally managed to get me on court, I tried to run, tripped over, burst into tears, off I went and didn’t come back for a good couple of months.’
So that could have been that. But coach Julie Hobbs worked away on the shy little girl until eventually she returned, taking the first step on a yellow brick road leading all the way to Centre Court. On Saturday afternoon, Kartal will open proceedings on tennis’s most august arena, making her first appearance in the fourth-round of a Grand Slam. If she can get past Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova she will become the British No1.
And watching on from the stands will be Hobbs and Ben Reeves, who together have coached Kartal from her very first days at the Pavilion and Avenue Tennis Club in Hove all the way to the world’s top 50.
‘When I first appeared on the tour people were saying, “Do you think you should get a coach that has already done it?” But I didn’t want that at all,’ says Kartal. ‘I have coaches that have taken me from a six-year-old to the WTA Tour – I think that shows they know what they are talking about. We both just learned together. We’re doing this crazy thing together.’
If Sonay Kartal wins one more game she will be Britain’s No 1 – but she is an unlikely star
She comes from a modest background, trained at a regular gym, and is shorter than others
Kartal has stuck by the coach she had when she was just six years old – Julie Hobbs, left
It really is crazy – wonderfully so. There are so many reasons why Kartal should not have been a tennis player: she is not from the traditional tennis heartland of greater London and the home counties. She is 5ft 4in in a game where height is might. She comes from a modest background, the daughter of a Turkish restauranteur.
That all makes her run here not just heartwarming but important. Every victory here has been a victory for the outsider; a clarion call to those who feel locked out of the gilded gates of British tennis.
The toned arms with which she generates a huge amount of topspin also feel important, at a time when AI images of the ‘perfect’ female body flood the internet.
‘I think a lot of girls are getting more comfortable with having more muscle on their body,’ says Kartal. ‘I don’t think anyone should feel like girls have to look a certain way and I think that’s changing in tennis as well – everyone’s all different physiques and sizes and heights.
‘If I can inspire kids, whether that’s boys, girls, that’s good.’
Even with those muscles, there is a sliding door. ‘I wasn’t always strong,’ says Kartal. ‘I used to hate fitness back in the day but lockdown happened and I had nothing to do.
‘I turned to it as a bit of an escape, something to do for a bit of fun. I didn’t have crazy weights or anything (she was 19 at the time of the first lockdown) so it was just for running or bodyweight stuff and I absolutely loved it.
‘So when it opened back up I’d go to the gym, stick my headphones in and just forget about the world.’
Kartal will take on Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Saturday afternoon
She still lives in her family home in Brighton and was a late bloomer in terms of being noticed
In typical Kartal fashion, her gym was just a normal budget high-street chain. With a minimal £250,000 injection to her bank account after this fortnight, Kartal can certainly afford something more exclusive – and given her rising profile that could be wise.
‘Yeah, it was getting a bit tricky prior so I do think I’ll have to move,’ she says sadly. ‘But to be honest they were actually pretty respectful there, they would just say hello and let me get on with it. So maybe I’ll have to test that when I’m back.’
For all the wonder of this week, one feels like Kartal is looking forward to getting back to Brighton, where she still lives in the family home.
Her father moved over from Turkey and opened two restaurants – a kebab takeaway and a sit in restaurant. Kartal would eat in there sometimes – but never ventured into the kitchens. ‘Unfortunately I’m not a very good cook,’ she says. ‘He definitely would not have me in there.’
It was in one of those Turkish restaurants when the first links between Kartal and the Lawn Tennis Association were formed. An LTA employee was in there having a meal, Mr Kartal spotted him and said words to the effect of, ‘You should have a look at my girl.’
But it was only really in 2021 that Kartal was fully embraced by the national setup. Until she was 13 she played a lot of football and cricket too. She was always up front in football; in cricket she just whacked it.
‘Honestly, cricket, I was only good because of tennis,’ says Kartal. ‘I played left-handed and was just backhanding it, launching it as far as I could.
‘I was a bit tomboy and super sporty, I loved football. I used to go to my local park with my dad and just kick the ball around. I absolutely loved it.’
You get the sense this self-described ‘tomboy’ and cricket-lover is on course for the top
When I first met Kartal as she emerged on to the tour, she did not say much. She got through her press conferences politely but as quickly as possible. It was a little like the six year old who was too shy to take the court for the line game.
But as her game has developed so has her confidence. Perhaps also she has begun to realise how interesting she is; how cool she is.
Her baggy, retro Adidas kit which is fast becoming iconic; her 14 tattoos with more to come; the Turkish restaurants, the two coaches who have been with her all the way – none of this is normal.
Here at Wimbledon she sticks out like a sore thumb; a thumb raised towards the tennis highway, hitching a lift towards the top.
