Feature image created by Arzu Geybullayeva using Canva Pro.
She left Turkey full of pride, for all the right reasons: rising to 74th place in the Women’s Tennis Association‘s (WTA) live rankings, 23-year-old national tennis player Zeynep Sönmez became the first Turkish player to reach the third round at Wimbledon.
Sönmez also became the first national athlete in 75 years to reach the third round in singles at a Grand Slam event:
Historic moment for Turkish tennis 🇹🇷
World No.88 Zeynep Sonmez is the first player from Turkey to reach the third round in singles at a Grand Slam in the Open Era! #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/XXW3r2PoPX
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2025
Turkish tennis has seen notable Grand Slam performances from several players over the years. In 1950, Bahtiye Musluoğlu reached the third round at Roland Garros. More recently, Çağla Büyükakçay, who achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 60, made it to the second round of three Grand Slams between 2016 and 2017, although none of these were at Wimbledon. Similarly, Marsel Ilhan, a former World No. 77, reached the second round seven times across Grand Slams that took place from 2009 to 2015 – including two appearances at Wimbledon – but did not advance further than that stage.
Then came Sönmez, who in November 2024 won the Merida Open Akron tournament in Mexico, which resulted in her bringing home her first WTA trophy in women’s singles.
The rising tennis star, born in Istanbul in 2002, was discovered by a coach at a summer camp she attended at just six years old. In an interview with BBC Turkish, Sönmez recalled, “My family enrolled me in summer school. Swimming [and] basketball. But I didn’t like basketball. I would run away and go play tennis.”
The WTA Finals played in Istanbul inspired her to keep pursuing her tennis dream. “I was 11 or 12, and I remember my mum picking me up from school [to go to the finals],” Sönmez said in an interview with WTA Tennis. “I was trying to watch every match. It was unbelievable; the atmosphere and the players were perfect. Azarenka, Li Na, Serena, Sharapova…they’re all such iconic players.”
Sönmez’s big moment came in 2024 at a tournament in Merida. Her strong performance there drastically improved her world ranking from 159th to 92nd, which led to her first time playing in the main part of a major championship, Roland Garros.
Social media users in Turkey watched the games holding their breath:
O ağladı, biz ağladık. #Wimbledon
🇹🇷 Zeynep Sönmez pic.twitter.com/VBPN0N9edM
— Eurosport TR (@Eurosport_TR) July 3, 2025
She cried, we cried with her.
Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas expressed his gratitude to Sönmez in a tweet:
Wimbledon’da 3. tura yükselen ilk milli tenisçimiz Zeynep Sönmez’i yürekten kutluyorum.
Bizlere bu gururu yaşattığın için sana minnettarız Zeynep, başarıların daim olsun! 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/KDN5CcoT0L
— Mansur Yavaş (@mansuryavas06) July 3, 2025
I wholeheartedly congratulate our national tennis player Zeynep Sönmez for making it to the third round at Wimbledon. Thank you for making us feel this pride, may your success continue.
After her last game at the tournament, Sönmez spoke to journalists about her experience, and the takeaways: “I saw my shortcomings. I saw the areas I need to improve, and I also saw my potential and what I can do. I always strive to be better than I was yesterday. As I have said many times before, I do not set numerical or concrete goals for myself. As a person, as a player, as someone who stands on the court, I always strive to be better than I was the day before.”
She also noted, “I realized that I am not far from my dreams, and that if I continue, step by step, I will get closer and closer to them.” Her next match will be at the US Open, where she plans to get better results. Either way, her games will be watched attentively by tennis fans in Turkey.
