Emotive paw print tattoo and bravery symbol aid tennis journey for Sonay Kartal at Wimbledon 2025

Mindset change aided Sonay Kartal breakthrough

The tattoo on her wrist is a symbol meaning 'bravery' and refers to the point in her career when she knew she needed to change something if she was to succeed.

"I wasn't the best junior growing up," said Kartal in an interview in 2024. "I wasn't that great. A bit of a late developer. I lost a lot of matches from playing too safe.

"I kind of had enough of losing and was like, I need to change something," said Kartal, a regular junior rival to fellow Brit Emma Raducanu, whose tennis trajectory skyrocketed after winning the US Open in 2021 aged just 18, and who is also looking good at this year's tournament.

A video of the pair thrashing out a rally at nine years old has been doing the rounds on social media.

"If I have [the tattoo] on my wrist, I can see it," said Kartal of the more noticeable inking than the emotive paw print. "It's a little reminder at change of ends."

Yet the bravery doesn't just allude to time on the tennis court, presumably, with Kartal sharing pictures of her in hospital just months before her breakthrough at Wimbledon.

"I had a scary few months at the start of the year," said Kartal. "I said I won't disclose what it was, but it was health-related. I didn't think I would be back potentially at all [in 2024]."

But back she was, and the reward for the adjustment in thinking, was a third-round match against the 2023 US Open champion, Coco Gauff.

Losing 6-4 6-0 Kartal has since made appearances in her first Australian Open and French Open championships as well as making her debut for Team GB in the Billie Jean King Cup in April.

Tattoos are added for each of these milestones with an ink count of 14 so far.

A timetable mix-up at Roland Garros meant Kartal had to postpone her initial appointment to add to her 13 other markings as it clashed with a first-round doubles match, an event in which she's also competing at Wimbledon.

But once her time is done on the lawns of southwest London – hopefully for the Brit, none too soon – Kartal will once again be marking the occasion with some body art, although the design has yet to be decided, and she's asked fans to help.

“I’m open to suggestions,” she said in a press conference following her second-round victory. “If people throw me some good ideas, I will definitely consider them – 90 per cent I would end up going with one of those ideas.”

Creative suggestions are welcome, says Kartal, who balked at the unoriginality of a strawberry to represent her 2025 Wimbledon journey.

So, the floor is yours, sport fans. Get creative, and send your suggestions to Kartal's Instagram account – although, if all goes to plan, you'll have plenty of time to think of some options – Kartal has set her sights on a lengthy run through the tournament.

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