Just days after Zeynep Sonmez achieved a significant milestone by capturing her first Hologic WTA Tour title at the Merida Open Akron, she found herself in the spotlight back home. In November, she graced the red carpet at the Harper’s Bazaar Türkiye Women of the Year awards in Istanbul, rubbing shoulders with the nation’s top actresses, scientists, and business leaders. She walked away with the Athlete of the Year award, adding to her growing collection of honors.

Zeynep Sonmez's Journey to Tennis Stardom

The WTA's Impact on Zeynep Sonmez

Sonmez was first introduced to tennis at a holiday camp. Despite her parents enrolling her in swimming and basketball classes, she showed a preference for tennis. "I don't remember this, but they said I hated basketball so much that I kept running away and going to the tennis courts," Sonmez said. "I was picking up big racquets and trying to play on my own. That's when my first coach recognized me and said, 'If she doesn't like basketball, she can join the tennis.'"The 2011-13 WTA Finals Istanbul and the tour's annual clay-court event in the Turkish capital played a crucial role in igniting Sonmez's desire to become a professional. "I was 11 or 12, and I remember my mum picking me up from school [to go to the WTA Finals], and I was trying to watch every match," she said. "It was unbelievable, the atmosphere and the players were perfect. I was trying to watch every match. Azarenka, Li Na, Serena, Sharapova, Serena... they're all such iconic players."A few years later, Sonmez became a ballgirl for the Istanbul event and witnessed Cagla Buyukakcay make history. "It was very emotional for me," she said. "Everyone in Turkish tennis was there. Of course, it was a good inspiration for me and for all Turkish players."

Champions Reel: How Zeynep Sonmez won Merida 2024

A key aspect of Sonmez's title run in Merida was her determination to constantly attack the net and deliver both delicate touch and authoritative overheads. This was something she actively worked on in 2024, a breakthrough season that saw her cut her year-end ranking from No.159 to No.92 and make her Grand Slam main-draw debut by qualifying for Roland Garros."Since I started playing tennis, my footwork and my movement was my best thing," Sonmez said. "I had to add an attack game. In the Top 150, you have to win the point, you cannot just run and hit the ball in. It's more a mindset. My mentality isn't, 'I'm going to hit a volley.' It's more, 'I'm going to go to net and play aggressively.'"Sonmez also considers this season a breakthrough in terms of mental strength and focus. Her Merida run was a "mental battle" as she took three flights from Tokyo via Istanbul and Miami to reach there just a day before her first-round match. She also had to deal with rain delays and an "epic" quarterfinal contest against home favorite Renata Zarazua.But she didn't think about winning the tournament until her final shot. She learned this lesson from her toughest defeat of the year, a 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 loss to Daria Snigur in the final round of Wimbledon qualifying. Sonmez had led 4-0 in the second set and 4-1 in the third."It was a weird match and very, very heartbreaking," she said. "It was like a rollercoaster. I think I learned a lot, though. I was thinking about the ending a lot — am I going to win, am I going to make it to the main draw, what's going to happen. That's where I lost the focus."Sonmez didn't make the same mistake in Merida. "On the last point, I was aware it was a championship point, but I didn't let that feeling get to me," she said. "I was just focusing on each shot that I was doing."Sonmez plans to carry this attitude into 2025, a season she's eager to play as a Top 100 player. "And I want to stay there," she said. "I see myself there for a long time."

Tennis as a Reflection of Real Life for Sonmez

Sonmez lives by a never-say-die maxim both on and off the court. "If there's another day in your life, you still have a chance to do good things," she said. "And if there's another point in the match, you still have a chance to do good things. Never lose your hope. Tennis is so much like life. You always have to have hope, and the will to keep going. You're not playing with time, you're playing with points, and everything can turn around like this. You always have to be ready."For Sonmez, doing good things isn't just about playing quality tennis. In September's Monastir quarterfinals, she played a remarkably sportsmanlike match against her good friend Eva Lys, where both players overruled calls that had initially gone in their favor."You know, it's just a game at the end of the day," Sonmez said. "The friendship matters more. I would be prefer to be remembered as a good person than for winning that point that I didn't deserve. What I did, it was around 3-3. But what she did was amazing, because she corrected it on her set point, a very important point. It's about being a good person, not beating the other person by not acting right."

Sonmez's Support for Palestinians

At several tournaments this year, Sonmez played her matches wearing a pin of a watermelon, the historic symbol of Palestinian resistance. She's proud to add her voice to fellow WTA stars such as Ons Jabeur and Mayar Sherif in support of a people facing what Amnesty International has called a genocide."It's a sensitive area for me," Sonmez said. "People in Palestine are suffering. I see the videos and photos and feel that there's not so much we can do. But we can always do our best — it's like I was saying, you can be the best version of yourself. I want everyone to know that I'm standing with them. There are bad things going on all around the world, but I feel like they're not having the attention that they need. There is something very scary going on, and I want people to be aware of it. If I can take even a little bit of attention to them, that's good."