Wimbledon 2025
Dates: 30 June-13 July Venue: All England Club
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. Full coverage guide.
One of Sonay Kartal’s 14 tattoos reads “the show must go on”.
She says the phrase is not linked to any specific event, but after a series of injuries and the challenges of self-funding her career, it could easily have referred to the Briton’s impressive performance on to one of the biggest stages in tennis.
Kartal powered her way into the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time on Friday, winning nine games in a row on her way to a 6-4 6-2 victory over France’s Diane Parry.
A rising star of British tennis, this time last year she was just inside the top 300 in the world but now she sits 51st, and will rise further after her displays at her home Grand Slam.
Having seen off 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko in the first round and then breezing past Viktoriya Tomova in straight sets, the 23-year-old produced arguably the biggest performance of her career against Parry.
Next she will face world number 50 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who knocked out Naomi Osaka in round three.
Kartal was one of 14 British players to be handed a wildcard for Wimbledon but those numbers have dwindled as the tournament has gone on, increasing the pressure on the player from Brighton.
“I think it’s an honour,” she said.
“Obviously you’ve got a lot of attention on you but it means you’re doing good things.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect me too much. I feel like I’m going to go out on the court in the next round kind of with nothing to lose at the minute.
“I’m going to go swinging.”
Starting out self-funded – Kartal’s rise to professional tennis
Aside from her tattoos and her impressive form at Wimbledon so far, there are other things that are noticeable about Kartal.
On court she wears baggy, almost retro style tennis clothes – which ties in with her love of 1990s music – while she also appears very focused and determined on what she wants to achieve.
That not only has seen her rise from 864th in the world to 51st in the last three years, but was also evident as she battled back from 4-1 down in the first set against Parry to ultimately power through comfortably.
Those characteristics may come from her years starting out in tennis where for the majority of her time as a teenager she was self-funded and travelled to tournaments without a coach.
She also had difficult periods of injury which led to her not picking up a racquet for two years.
A good all-rounder at sports, once Kartal decided to put her sole focus on tennis she was determined she would make it as a professional.
“I played football and cricket as well as a kid at the time to the same level but once I committed to tennis, I always felt like tennis was the one,” she added.
“I always felt like I was slightly different as a player to most players at the time that I was growing up with.
“I had a lot of belief. I had good people around me that really backed me and said that I just needed a good run, I could have a breakout year.
“I think tennis, despite me being sidelined for years on and off, it was still always the goal for me.”
That attitude, along with her performances at Wimbledon so far this year, are catching the eye of those watching, and the court one crowd were on their feet when victory was confirmed against Parry, applauding her gutsy display.
Depending on how things pan out in the coming days she could even replace Emma Raducanu as the British number one by the end of Wimbledon.
“Sonny is just an amazing, an amazing story,” Jamie Baker, the former British tennis player and tournament director at Wimbledon told BBC Sport.
“There’s nothing not to like about Sonny. She just gets on with her business.”
As her tattoo reads, the show must go on, and Kartal will get back to business on Sunday as she looks to secure a dream place in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam.
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