Court assignments are a public-facing metric by which fans can assess the perceived popularity of tennis players. Behind the scenes at the biggest tournaments, there’s another set of decisions being made which mirrors these judgment calls about the relative public interest in various tennis players: in which room each player is scheduled during their pre-tournament and post-match press conferences.
The media coordinators who make these calls are usually veterans of these spaces, and usually gauge interest well enough to put the most in-demand players into bigger rooms with adequate space. But last year, during pre-tournament interviews at Wimbledon, organizers badly underestimated just how many reporters would want to talk to the WTA player ranked 62nd.
As highly-hyped Brazilian phenom João Fonseca drew a much smaller crowd in a larger room, an overflow of reporters waited outside of one of the smallest spaces for this 23-year-old woman—who had never yet been ranked inside the Top 50, and had not yet scored a win over a Top 20 player.
As the gaggle of reporters grew into double-digits and beyond, it was clear that this player’s audience demanded a bigger stage. Once officials saw what was happening, the necessary adjustments were made: Eva Lys got upgraded just in time.
I first spoke with Eva Lys after the crowd of English and German-speaking reporters had filed out of Wimbledon’s Interview Room No. 2 in a one-on-one interview. I could quickly tell some of why Lys had become so popular: she’s comfortable, composed, confident and compelling in person, ready to be articulate and thoughtful on any and all topics.
“It’s a good sign,” Lys said of needing a room change, laughing. “When it comes to tennis, I’ve had a lot of firsts—but also when it comes to everything outside of tennis. So this was a first. I’ve had a tournament where no one really showed up—I do remember these times—so it definitely feels very new to me. I do like it, because I always said that being a tennis player for me is not only [about] playing tennis. There’s so much behind it, and this is what I enjoy. I enjoy playing tennis, but I also enjoy everything around it.
“But yeah, I do get overwhelmed,” Lys continued. “Especially when it’s like a lot of attention out of nowhere and you’re not really used to it. I’ve definitely been dealing with that. Sometimes I have good days because I get a lot of good attention. But I also get more bad attention now: bad press, people who don’t write nice stuff. So I am definitely trying to find my way to just adjust to where I’m mentally fine with everything.”
Lys’ perspective and groundedness may be rooted in the unusual ordinariness of her background. One area where Lys varies from most tour-level players is in education: unlike many of her peers, she finished traditional high school. Mardy Fish, the former player and mental health advocate, told me years ago that he believes tennis players’ lack of formal education is part of what makes them more susceptible to pressure and burnout. I wondered: does Lys think her more “normal” adolescence helps her to handle the mental sides of the tour? She could see both sides of the equation.
“I feel like on certain points it really prepared me well,” Lys began. “But also it didn’t prepare me enough [for tennis], because I didn’t spend as much time on courts or at tournaments. I just didn’t have the possibility to gain as much experience as other players that were fully playing juniors. So this is definitely a thing that I’m still feeling: that I am just really lacking experience on match courts, on practice, on tournaments.
“But, on the other side, it was really important for my parents to ensure that I have a Plan B in case something goes wrong, because if you really think about it, it’s so easy to [happen]. Our body is our temple, as they say, and if something happens—and I hope nothing bad ever happens to anyone—you won’t be able to do your job. And if you don’t have anything else, then what are you doing?
“And I feel like [it helps] knowing that I finished school, I’ve made a lot of friends, I have a really stable surrounding. That gives me, especially in tough times, a lot of energy. It’s definitely a thing now where I do not really have to worry about what’s gonna maybe happen after. I still do [worry], in my own ways, but it’s definitely reassuring to have that.”
Lys then caveated that she didn’t want to make assumptions or generalizations about her peers.
“I don’t know if other players have a Plan B or not,” she said. “But that’s one thing that would make me go crazy. Tennis is such an unstable sport—it’s so inconsistent—and just having some sort of stability definitely just lets you play a little bit more loose. I still do want my Plan A to work out. But again, thanks to my parents: they were making sure I was doing my homework.”
Lys also has had health challenges to her tennis “Plan A,” as she was diagnosed with spondylarthritis six years ago. The condition requires constant management and attention to her routines as well as her diet.
“It’s something I live with every day,” Lys said earlier this year. “I never want to use it as an excuse, but it’s something I have to figure out how to combine with the sport I do. My warmup has to be longer. My treatments—physio, ice bath—everything that comes with recovery is always my priority.”
Lys’ instagram posts from March 2024
Plan A was going well for Lys when we spoke at Wimbledon, surging into the Top 100 after a run to the fourth round of the 2025 Australian Open as a lucky loser. Lys had one of her first viral moments when she reacted with delighted shock at how much prize money she’d earned for that fourth round appearance.
It only made sense, I thought, to ask what she’d done with that windfall. She answered with typical candor.
“I mean…taxes?” Lys began.
I quickly agreed—I had actually done a piece at Bounces after that video went viral, looking at taxes and exchange rates, trying to demystify how much Lys might take home from that amount: “For Eva Lys, that ‘$420,000’ in Australian dollars will arrive in her German bank account as €153,877,” I wrote at the time.
Lys agreed that the prize money totals did little to reflect reality.
“It’s the same with if you look online at how much prize money the tennis players have made,” Lys said. “I’m not talking about the top 20, but I was checking my prize money and it’s at, like, $1.3 million. I’m like, ‘Where is it?’”
But though the numbers might not have looked as big in her bank account, the breakthrough had been hugely meaningful for Lys.
“The prize money I made in Australia, it’s definitely just given me financial safety for the year,” Lys said. “That definitely has always been a [stressful] topic for the past years: if you don’t play good, you don’t have the financial situation to keep on playing, and that was definitely something on my mind. This year is really the first time where this is something I don’t have to worry about, so it’s definitely a really, really nice feeling for me and also for my team.”
Since the 2025 season, Lys’ team has included the management agency Evolve. The agency’s belief in Lys’ prospects has already paid considerable dividends, as the media interest has also been matched by sponsor interest in Lys.
“I think it boils down to the fact that she’s just really likable,” Carly Duguid, creative director for Evolve, told Bounces. “She’s hard not to like.”
Duguid also expressed her comfort with having an outspoken client, which is not always the preference of every agent.
“She’s very smart, and she wears her heart on her sleeve,” Duguid said. “And if she thinks a certain way about something, or she has something to say, she says it—and she says it thoughtfully. But she’s not afraid to say it, and I think she really values her place as an athlete who’s having a voice and having a following on social media and having the opportunity to be able to say what she feels and have people listen to it.”
Duguid and I spoke during the first week of Wimbledon, when Lys had just broken the 200,000 mark in Instagram followers. Fame and fortune in women’s tennis have never been as strictly tied to rankings and results as they are on the women’s side, and Lys was one of the clearest current examples of that.
The breakthrough moments that make a tennis player into a star, Duguid believes, don’t only occur in major finals.
“It’s not necessarily a Grand Slam win; it’s not necessarily breaking into the Top 50,” Duguid said. “Like her run making it to the Last 16 as a [lucky loser] at the Australian Open: that was one of those big moments that really propelled her to the next level. I think there will be several more of those [moments]—and perhaps it’s not a Slam win. It can be something else that really puts all eyes on her. In those moments, I think that’s where she really shines, and I think it only takes a few of those for people to really pick up on that and for it to build a lot of momentum. On the marketing side, it doesn’t have to be solely on-court results that are reflective of her potential. I think there’s a lot more that goes into it than just that in tennis, and she’s a great example of that.”
Sure enough, Lys has landed several big endorsement deals in the past 12 months, becoming a prominent spokeswoman for Porsche and one of the most prominent female players outfitted by Lacoste. More big deals with major brands are in the works, as well.
These deals have come despite results that might not have turned many heads on their own. Bluntly, a lot of players have won a lot more than Lys without earning the off-court money that she’s now raking in. Lys hasn’t done badly by any measure: scored her first top-20 win at last September’s WTA 1000 Beijing by beating the formidable Elena Rybakina, and briefly broke into the Top 40 in January before her fourth round points from the prior year’s Australian Open.
Lys, as of writing this, is now ranked 78th, but she’s still one of the star attractions at this week’s WTA 500 Stuttgart, which is sponsored by Porsche, one of her own major sponsors.
Despite her results stalling a bit, Lys has cracked 300,000 followers on Instagram.
There’s a loaded word in our culture for a person—particularly a photogenic woman—whose earnings through her social media presence far outpace their objective offline achievements. When I asked Lys at Wimbledon if she’d consider herself an “influencer,” she shook her head.
“No—I don’t like this word,” Lys said. “I mean, I don’t mind it, but I feel like people associate not really good stuff with the word ‘influencer.’ I just got there because I’m an athlete. So I don’t mind people using it, but I wouldn’t call myself an influencer, because this is not my main job. I’m not doing it because it’s a job or because I’m trying to make money off of it. I’m just doing it because I am having fun.
“And I definitely want to show people who are interested in tennis what [they’re] still missing, especially in the WTA, which is just the insight, and what the players are doing. There’s so much personality on tour. Not everyone wants to show it, but I do feel like there’s a good way to just show people, ‘Listen, this is not just the tennis player you see on TV—there’s a person behind it, and here are their interests.’ And I feel like you get interested in people because you start getting to know them. They have traits; you feel simpatico towards them. So I’m just trying to show people what I’m experiencing. And I’m always a person that really likes to share, whether it’s with my family or my friends. I feel people like it, so I’ll keep on doing it.”
Lys was correct about WTA players being given less of a chance to shine and tell their stories on social media—a trend that the WTA worsened when it cut WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen in early 2025. Players in men’s tennis get to shine both through more robust ATP social media projects and also via the creative content teams of Tennis TV, which has focused solely on the men’s side since 2017.
“I feel like the ATP actually has been doing a good job,” Lys said. “I’ve been enjoying their content, and it’s definitely something I would look toward with the WTA.”
But Lys has built something on her own that can match the men. When I caught up with Lys again this year in Melbourne, she’d just triumphed in a popularity contest that involved both tours: that video of her reacting to her prize money was voted the fans’ favorite moment of the previous year’s Australian Open, improbably beating out every on-court moment by the game’s biggest champions.
“I feel like it compensates for the fact that I didn’t win the Grand Slam,” Lys said, laughing as she wore the koala-eared hat she was given as a prize. “So I’ll take that.”
Had Lys adjusted to the attention and acclaim by this point, I wondered?
“I mean, I’m going to be honest: I was having some interviews today and I was so shocked by the questions,” Lys said. “They’re like, ‘Hey, you’re an amazing tennis player, but what’s happening outside of it? So many people know you or know of you.’
“Especially with my new Lacoste deal and doing well last year. I actually was pretty shocked, because I don’t feel it as much as probably [it appears from] the outside, because I’m just trying to be myself. Knowing that the people like who I am, it’s definitely a really nice feeling. I was always telling my parents that the reason I want to play tennis is not only because of the tennis itself, it’s also with like everything that comes with it. So it’s definitely a very nice feeling.”
Lys had a lot of fans cheering for her during her first round match in Melbourne—which she ultimately lost to Sorana Cirstea as she struggled with a knee injury.
The standouts, surely, were the two men who wore Elvis wigs and sang “Evaaaaa Lys Vegas!”
“I love the fans,” Lys said. “My whole community, whether in real life or online, they’re the nicest people ever. So I definitely always feel very happy with sharing whatever. Just getting nice and good feedback is also just encouraging me to keep going and to keep sharing.”
As the WTA has learned to lean into Lys this year, there has inevitably been some resentment on social media from fans of other players.
Though the women who draw more attention than their peers despite lower rankings are often the subjects of jealousy on the WTA Tour, Lys is improbably even more popular among her peers than with fans. Lys’ social media is full of support and compliments from her fellow players—in large part because that’s consistently what she gives them.
Some of the comments from Lys’ most recent Instagram post.
I spoke to many of the players whom I’d seen interacting with her on social media about Lys, and they were uniformly effusive about her.
“We get along very well,” Suzan Lamens said of Lys, who she has known since their days in ITF tournaments. “She’s a very positive girl with a positive mindset, and it’s nice to have someone on tour who has that energy, who you can talk to. Other girls are, sometimes, a lot [keeping to] themselves, but she’s someone that I like to talk to and practice with.”
The American Caroline Dolehide, who hasn’t known Lys as long, echoed those sentiments.
“To see a newcomer really take it on and not be afraid to communicate with the other girls and have a normal relationship [with them] off the court—I absolutely love that about her,” said Dolehide. “I mean, this sport is bigger than just us competing on the court, you know? And if we can build each other up off the court, that’s great. And she does that. She definitely does that. And you can’t fake that. You see it in kind of that [snaps] 5, 10 second initial [meeting], and I definitely saw that in her.”
After her own first round win on Wimbledon’s Centre Court last year, Katie Boulter seemed most excited to get to discuss Lys.
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Eva Lys won her first round match. I was on her Instagram and saw you left her a crown emoji in the comments at some point.
Katie Boulter: She’s a queen (smiling).
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: If you can expand on that—what makes her worthy of that crown, in your opinion? Because she’s growing pretty popular and well-known. Can you explain the appeal, her queen-ness?
Katie Boulter: What a great question. Favorite of the day, for sure (smiling).
Firstly, I’m a huge advocate for empowering women in general. I love the way that she gets behind women, in general. I think it’s nice to see she’s great friends with a lot of people on tour already, and she’s barely been around. It’s just the start of her career for her.
I think the impact that she’s had already is really sweet to see. I think she’s just very open and honest. I think she kind of says how she feels. I got to know her a little bit; I’d love to know her even more. Yeah, she’s a very sweet girl. I’m sure she’ll be around for a fair amount of time.
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: How is she showing support, how is she helping the other women around?
Katie Boulter: I think in general. I mean, I think it’s just nice to see, she’s always leaving positive comments, always giving you compliments. I think she’s just very warmhearted. I think you can see that from her personality. That was my first impression of her. There’s a lot of girls that feel the same way [about her]; you can kind of see it.
Yeah, I know she spends a lot of time with a lot of the girls, which is great to see. You don’t see that much on the WTA Tour. I feel like she’s always really positive, really nice, getting behind you.
Iga Swiatek, who routed Lys several times before having a very tight match with her at this year’s United Cup, was effusive about her on and off the court.
“For sure she’s also a nice person off the court,” Swiatek said in January. “She’s pretty funny with everything that she does on Instagram. It’s really refreshing. And it’s nice to see that. Also she seems not to give a damn what people talk about. She’s just doing her thing, which is nice to see.”
Coco Gauff posted with Lys this week in Stuttgart.
Lys also has admirers on the men’s tour who can be spotted in her Instagram comments, like the Portuguese player Jaime Faria.
“She has amazing potential [as a player], I think, and she’s a nice person,” Faria, who said he has known Lys since juniors, told Bounces. “Always so friendly and so kind. Very humble. And yeah, I see that she has her Instagram and social media going pretty well. It doesn’t surprise me: she’s very creative, and a nice person.”
Priscilla Hon, herself also one of the more social players on the WTA Tour, had particular praise for Lys’ social media.
“I really like her and I really like her social media as well,” Hon said. “I love taking photos and I always like reply back when she takes a cool photo. I’m like, that is cool—I rate that. I give her all my food recommendations and stuff, and I’m like, ‘Do not tell anyone, because I don’t want to send this to many people.’ I feel like a lot of players on tour, they keep to themselves. A lot of them don’t really like to interact with other players, but Eva is very different, so I like that about her.”
Hon also appreciated how Lys showed dimensions of herself beyond just being an athlete.
“I like that she shows other things [besides] tennis,” Hon said. “Because that’s what I don’t understand: when tennis players just post about tennis. Like, it’s just a tennis photo, and then they win a round and so they post another tennis photo. And then the whole profile is tennis! Like, we know you play tennis. I want to see what else you do, you know? I just feel like that’s what makes a player interesting and different.”
Thanks for reading Bounces! -Ben
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