“Last year, I was super grateful to even be on the court, let alone to have the biggest wins in my career. I think I played with a lot of freedom. And I think that, ultimately, that has helped me put myself in the position that I’m in right now.”
If we take the story back further, Kartal’s father is a Roger Federer fan who owned two Turkish restaurants in her home town of Brighton. And it was through a Lawn Tennis Association coach, who came in to enjoy a Turkish meal, that the Kartal children happened to be invited to a coaching session.
Kartal says herself that “I wasn’t the best junior”. Standing only 5ft 4in tall, in a sport that rewards wingspan, did not help. And she admits that she can be prone to playing a little safe. She has a tattoo on her wrist, a symbol of bravery, that she looks at when she needs inspiration.
Nuggety performer with obstinate defence
Even now, Kartal’s style of play is to make a lot of balls, using a heavily top-spun forehand to wear down her opponents. That has worked superbly in Indian Wells, where the courts reward high spin-rates by making the ball jump up high. Monday night’s match found her outlasting Kudermetova, who made a dominant start but eventually broke down in the face of Kartal’s obstinate defence.
You only have to look at Kartal to see that she is going to be nuggety. She may be short in stature but her muscles are eye-catching. Back in Brighton, she became a fitness nut during the Covid lockdown, pumping weights and going for long runs along the South Downs. She has said that gym work used to feel “like a chore… now I absolutely love it and it’s so good for my mental health”.
On Wednesday, Kartal could become the first British woman to reach the quarter-finals of Indian Wells – the self-styled “Tennis Paradise” which is unofficially known as “the fifth slam”.
This is rather a long shot, however. Her next opponent, world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, looked in ominous form in the third round as she demolished Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti for the loss of just three games.
“I’m getting used to playing on the bigger stadiums and with a bigger crowd,” said Kartel, who faced Coco Gauff on No 1 Court in the third round of last year’s Wimbledon. “Whatever the outcome is, I’m going to learn a lot from that match, and I think in the future it will help my game out a lot. I’m going to go into it with no expectations and just continue to play the game style that I have been this week.”
