Sonay Kartal ready to impress at Wimbledon: ‘I’ve always believed my tennis was Grand Slam level’

Sonay Kartal has been making up for lost time in rapid fashion and now the 20-year-old has a Wimbledon breakthrough in her sights.

A talented junior, the Brighton player saw her progress stalled by injury, particularly a wrist problem that stopped her picking up a racket for a year, before returning to the circuit last October.

Unranked at that stage, Kartal won six of the first nine tournaments she played, enough to earn her a call-up to Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup squad in April and now a first Wimbledon wild card.

Kartal, who is now ranked 226, said: “Twelve months ago I think I was injured, so I was probably in the physio room or doing rehab. I definitely wasn’t on a tennis court, playing at this kind of level. Even six months ago, this wasn’t an achievable goal. It’s happening fast.

John Lloyd on Andy Murray's Wimbledon dream

John Lloyd on Emma Raducanu's Wimbledon hopes

Play Your Way To Wimbledon

Tim Henman's Wimbledon preview

Andy Murray a Wimbledon contender

Nick Kyrgios a Wimbledon contender

John Lloyd on Emma Raducanu

John Lloyd on the British tennis boom

“I’ve always believed my tennis was Grand Slam level. It was getting to the point where I could prove it. I still believed that when I’ve recovered from whatever injury it is, I’m going to get there, I just didn’t know when.”

A post shared by Sonay Kartal (@sonay__kartal)

As impressive as Kartal’s tennis and results have been recently, she is probably still best known at the moment for a video that surfaced following Emma Raducanu’s US Open victory of the pair battling as nine-year-olds.

A long rally in which the two small girls cover every inch of the court ends with Kartal hitting a forehand winner down the line.

“I remembered that shot,” she said