Sonay Kartal will make her Centre Court debut on Sunday as she fights for a spot in the Wimbledon quarter-final. The 23-year-old from Brighton has never made it this far at a Grand Slam tournament, and she meets experienced Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round.
The last British woman standing after losses for the likes of Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter, the world No. 51 has become the talk of the town at Wimbledon, turning heads with her baggy Adidas polo shirt and tattoo-clad skin. And Express Sport has the lowdown on Kartal’s 14 tattoos, including a tribute to her first dog, and a special career milestone.
The bumblebee – left forearm
Arguably the tattoo that kicked off all the interest in Kartal’s ink. During the recent French Open, the British No. 3 revealed that she had to reschedule a tattoo appointment, which clashed with her doubles match. After leaving Paris and returning to the British grass courts, Kartal confirmed that she had a bee put on her forearm to match her sister.
“Me and my sister got a matching bumblebee,” she said at Queen’s. “I gave her the choice. She said, ‘Will you get tattoo with me?’ I said yeah. Came off after my first match and she had got the bumblebee. So I had to hold my word, and yeah, I went in the end of the week to get that one.”
The paw print – back of left bicep
Kartal’s favourite tattoo is a tribute to her first dog, a golden retriever named Chester, who passed away two years ago. “I bought some like doggy ink and got his paw print downsized, got it tattooed and put into a little picture on the back of my arm,” she explained after her second-round win at Wimbledon.
The eagle – left forearm
There’s a simple explanation for this one. Kartal is half-Turkish, through her father, and she said: “Kartal means eagle in Turkish.”
The snake – right forearm
Not all of Kartal’s tattoos have meaning, something she’s been open about. And the snake is one of those, as the 23-year-old got it done on a whim while having the paw print inked.
“I was just scrolling through my phone and saw that one as well,” she admitted.
The date – left hand
Kartal is enjoying her best-ever showing at a Grand Slam, reaching the second week at Wimbledon. But her first milestone at the Majors came in 2022, so she got the year put on her wrist. She explained: “The date, it says 2022, I did all the four Grand Slams my first time.”
The butterfly – right bicep
One of the few tattoos Kartal has yet to speak about, the butterfly is always visible when she plays.
The checkered heart – left forearm
It’s another tattoo Kartal has yet to share the meaning of, if it even has one. But the black-and-white checkerboard heart is also on show during matches.
‘The show must go on’ – upper right forearm
Kartal has a couple of quotes on her body, though she admitted that her tattoos “started off with meaning”, and that’s no longer the case.
‘Time is everything we have and don’t’ – right thigh
While talking through her tattoos during her home tournament in Eastbourne last month, Kartal completely forgot about the second quote, which is visible at the front of her thigh. But it’s got plenty of meaning.
“I forgot about that one. It’s just a quote I like to live by. Sometimes I think I can get a bit stressy and stuff, so for me, it kind of just tells me it’s like to calm down, just to be in the moment a little bit,” she said.
And the rest…
The 23-year-old also has a plethora of small tattoos on her knuckles – at least four of them – but there’s no real backstory, as she explained: “These ones kind of have no meaning. The knuckle ones just trying to be stylish maybe.”
Kartal is already planning more tattoos – a tribute to her Billie Jean King Cup team debut, and potentially something to mark her second-week showing at Wimbledon.
Last week, she said: “My next tattoo? I did say I would get my ‘colour holder’ number after I played the Billie Jean King Cup, when I got that live rubber. That’s going to be one of them.
“Yeah, I mean, I’m open to suggestions. Like if people throw me some good ideas, I will definitely consider them. 90 per cent [chance] I would end up going with one of those ideas.
“I would get something that people are connected to Wimbledon and understand Wimbledon, they would understand. Maybe not necessarily to somebody not involved in tennis. I would like to get something related to Wimbledon.”
To be the first to receive the latest Wimbledon news, join our WhatsApp community or Wimbledon newsletter