'I want to try and be top 100 in the world' - Sonay Kartal on an unstoppable rise through the tennis rankings

Success has become second nature for Sonay Kartal in 2022, with the Brighton tennis ace thriving on home soil and surging up the WTA rankings this season. Kartal, who benefits from the LTA's NTC Pro Access programme, which is for players ranked 100-200 in singles and 31-100 in doubles, providing cost-free access to courts on all three surfaces, coaching, trainers and the LTA's tournament bonus scheme, started 2022 at 864th in the WTA rankings Ad/> Yet, four W25 titles in Britain — in Glasgow, Birmingham and back-to-back victories in Nottingham — coupled with her grass court performances this season have pushed her up to a career high of 268th.

ATP Halle'I was not playing good enough' — Medvedev recovers from slow start to set up Halle finalAN HOUR AGO All of these tournaments were part of the LTA's enhanced Performance Competitions Calendar, with the number of events rising from seven men's events and eight women's events in 2019 to 16 for both men and women in 2022. This is in addition to the grass-court season playing opportunities already in place.

It has ensured that British players have more competitive opportunities on home soil, cutting down on travel costs and helping to promote a rankings boost for a host of players. For a player whose development was affected by the pandemic and then injury trouble in 2021, her progression has been remarkable — but Kartal refuses to rest on her laurels.

She said: «When lockdown finished, that was the biggest turning point for me. I changed the way I looked and became so much stronger on the court.

»I took about a month to transition all that strength that I'd worked hard on in the gym to put that on the tennis court. I've definitely got a lot stronger which has made a big