Sonay Kartal is enjoying a career-defining run at Wimbledon 2025 and she is set to celebrate by adding another tattoo to her already impressive collection after the tournament.
The 23-year-old, who started the 2025 season at No 87 in the WTA Rankings, is projected to rise to a new career-high No 44 after reaching the fourth round at the grass-court Grand Slam.
She is already assured of being the new British No 2, moving one place ahead of Emma Raducanu after the 2021 US Open winner lost in the third round, while she will also overtake Katie Boulter and become the No 1 if she wins her next match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round.
Kartal has 14 tattoos and asked after her first-round win over 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko if she will get another one to celebrate, she replied: “I would have to go a few rounds further to get one, I think. Maybe if I made it to the second week, I’ll probably get one. Knowing me, I’d get one.”
She has now gone a few more rounds, beating Viktoriya Tomova and Diane Parray, and stated: “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.
“I’m open to suggestions. Like if people throw me some good ideas, I will definitely consider them. 90% I would end up going with one of those ideas.”
She was also asked about her most special tattoo.
“I have one on the back of my arm which is one of my first dog, a massive golden retriever. 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 revealed.
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There is also a quote: “The show must go on.”
Does it relate to anything specific?
“Not really. I’d like to say it did, but honestly, on that one I just liked the design,” she said. “My tattoos all started with meaning. Then I guess the more I got, the kind of more spontaneous and braver I got. Yeah, I mean, early days I would have to like it for a good few months. Whereas now I like it for two days, and I’ll get something put on.”
What about the other tattoos?
Left forearm – An eagle, a bumblebee and a checkered heart
The eagle is to celebrate her Turkish heritage as her father hails from the European country and Kartal means eagle in Turkish.
The bumblebee was added after this year’s French Open as she was initially due to get matching tattoos with her sister after the first round, but had to postpone her ink meeting: revealing: “Me and my sister got a matching bumblebee. 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.”
There is also a black-and-white checkerboard heart.
Left bicep – Paw print
This is the “special” one of her first dog, Chester, who passed away two years ago.
Right thigh – “Time is everything we have and don’t”
Another quote, but unlike “The show must go on” this one has a meaning.
“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.”
Right forearm – A snake
One of the many tattoos that don’t have a special meaning, as she ” was just scrolling through my phone and saw that one as well”.
Left hand – The date
This one does have a meaning as it’s “The date, it says 2022, I did all the four Grand Slams my first time.”
Right bicep – A butterfly
Another one that is yet to be discussed publicly, but it one of the more visible ones when she wears sleeveless shirts.
The rest…
Karatal also has at least four tattoos on her knuckles and she admitted: “These ones kind of have no meaning. The knuckle ones just trying to be stylish maybe.”
