“Now people are able to watch my matches too. It was difficult to watch the matches in Turkiye, but now there’s more attention on tennis, so I think it’s going in a good way.”
Her own path into the sport was equally unconventional. “No one introduced me to tennis,” she said. “I was going to summer school and playing basketball and swimming. I really hated basketball, so I was running to the tennis court trying to play with the huge racquets. My first coach saw me and said, ‘OK, if she wants to play tennis, let her play.’ I was the one who went for it.”
Now inside the top 70 and rising, Sonmez is leading a new generation of Turkish tennis fans – and could reach even more Melbourne milestones.
Joao Fonseca (Brazil)
He may be only 19 but Joao Fonseca has already captured the attention of the Brazilian public and international tennis community in a way not seen since the days of Gustavo Kuerten.
Roger Federer himself rates the teen sensation.
“I think what separates him from a lot of the other guys in the draw is just his power – forehand, backhand, serve – and what he’s able to bring, that point for point,” Federer said.
“He’s exciting, he’s got a good aura, I feel he’s a very likeable character as well. I like watching him play, to be honest.
“I briefly met him at the Laver Cup, I saw him also courtside, and also from the back, and it was impressive to see,” he continued. “I think he’s a little bit like me in the sense he just needs a little bit more time to work on his game, to know when to dial back and when to unload his shots. He’s going to figure that out, and obviously the sky’s the limit.
“He’s truly one of the guys who can compete for the biggest wins.”
