Archive July 5, 2025

Wimbledon 2025

Dates: 30 June-13 July Venue: All England Club

Sonay Kartal can walk tall as she takes to Wimbledon’s Centre Court for her first ever fourth round match at a Grand Slam.

But that will be only in a metaphorical sense. Because, at just 5ft 4in (163 cm), the 23-year-old is the shortest player in the main draw of the women’s singles.

Kartal, who has put together her best run at a major, describes herself as a “proud short person”.

While it has not held her back, she said it has had an impact on her game.

“You’ve got to have different skills in your locker. I’ve obviously not got the long limbs so I have got to make up for it with speed around the court,” she told BBC Sport.

Jodie Burrage, who played doubles with Kartal, joked it was not a surprise to learn the statistic about Kartal’s height “given how many lobs went over her head”.

Kartal said she has taken confidence from the success of the diminutive Italian Jasmine Paolini, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up who is also 5ft 4ins but marginally taller than Kartal, according to the WTA.

“My fellow short tennis player Paolini, she has obviously proved that you don’t need height on your side. She has obviously done incredible,” Kartal said.

Anne Keothavong, Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup captain, said: “Yes, she is one of the shortest players on tour but what she lacks in height she makes up for with power and foot speed. “

Kartal will make her Centre Court debut on Sunday afternoon when she faces Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

“It’s a dream of any young tennis player so to be given the chance to go out there, I’m super-proud,” she said.

“It means a lot. It’s going to be a great experience, a good opportunity for me. “

Regardless of what happens, what she has already achieved has filled her with confidence for the future.

“I didn’t expect it, I’ll be honest. Grass is a surface that isn’t my natural surface and in this I’ve already played a few big hitters, which again I struggle with,” she added.

A good all-rounder at sports, once Kartal decided to put her sole focus on tennis she was determined she would make it as a professional.

For the majority of her time as a teenager she was self-funded and travelled to tournaments without a coach.

She also had difficult periods of injury which led to her not picking up a racquet for two years.

Now she is ranked 51st in the world after a rapid rise.

BBC Sport pundit Tim Henman said: “We know her journey. She has gone through every stage working and improving in the small tournaments, sometimes travelling on her own.

“This time last year [she was] ranked 250-300 in the world and [is] now looking so comfortable. It goes to show, when you invest in that hard work, what is achievable.

“She is reaping the rewards because she is so invested. “

Kartal, from Brighton, has the same coaching team around her from when she was younger.

Keothavong added: “There’s a huge amount of trust with the people she works with.

“She’ll run all day, put lots of balls back in court and play with a brilliant attitude and big heart.

“She moves incredibly well and foot speed is right up there with some of the best.

“She’s enjoying every moment. “

Keothavong added that Kartal was a “fantastic person” who she “wanted the British public to get to know better”.

She has certainly charmed the fans with her positive attitude and style.

On court she wears baggy, almost retro style tennis clothes – which ties in with her love of 1990s music.

She has 14 tattoos. One is the year ‘2022’ to mark the first time she played in all four Grand Slams.

Wimbledon 2025

Dates: 30 June-13 July Venue: All England Club

Cameron Norrie and Sonay Kartal are the remaining British hopes of Wimbledon singles success in 2025 and both players are in fourth-round action at SW19 on Sunday.

Norrie, 29, takes on Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry in the second match on Court One, with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz a potential opponent in the last eight.

Kartal, 23, is enjoying her best ever run at a Grand Slam and will meet Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first match on Centre Court (13:30 BST).

World number 61 Norrie, making his eighth appearance at Wimbledon, is through to round four for only the second time.

He was a semi-finalist in 2022, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

Norrie’s opponent Jarry has been as high as 16th in the world but is currently outside the top 100 having been affected by health concerns for several months.

Kartal, who is set to climb to a career-high ranking as a result of her singles run at the All England Club, has her sights on a first Grand Slam quarter-final.

The experienced Pavlyuchenkova, 34, was French Open runner-up in 2021 but has only once made it this far at Wimbledon since her 2007 debut.

Kartal, the world number 51, is ranked one place below her Russian opponent.

British interest also continues in the doubles and junior events.

Joe Salisbury and Brazilian partner Luisa Stefani play Argentine Andres Molteni and American Asia Muhammad in the mixed doubles second round.

Also in that competition, the all-British pair of David Stevenson and Maia Lumsden face eighth seeds Mate Pavic and Timea Babos of Croatia and Hungary respectively, while former champions Neal Skupski and American Desirae Krawczyk are up against American-Russian pair Nathaniel Lammons and Alexandra Panova.

Second seed Alcaraz has had far from a smooth ride through to the last 16, being taken to five sets by Fabio Fognini in round one and four sets by Jan-Lennard Struff in his most recent outing.

The Spaniard, chasing a third successive Wimbledon title, plays Russian 14th seed and former quarter-finalist Andrey Rublev in the third match on Centre Court.

First up on Court One (13:00 BST) is fifth seed Taylor Fritz, who has been on court for almost 10 hours and has played a total of 14 sets across his first three matches.

The American takes on world number 44 Jordan Thompson of Australia, who has matched his career-best run at a Grand Slam.

Sabalenka is an imposing presence in the top half of the women’s draw, even more so after a host of leading seeds went out early in the tournament.

The 27-year-old Belarusian will take on 24th seed Elise Mertens of Belgium, once Kartal’s match has been completed on Centre Court.

Awaiting the victor in the quarter-finals will be either Solana Sierra of Argentina, who lost in qualifying but made it into the main draw as a lucky loser, or unseeded 37-year-old German Laura Siegemund.

11:00-16:30 – Live coverage – BBC Two, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app

11:00-21:30 – Live coverage of outside courts – BBC Red Button, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app

12:00-15:00 – Live coverage – BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds app and BBC Sport website

12:25-16:10 – Live coverage – BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app

16:30-22:00 – Live coverage – BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app

17:00-22:00 – Live coverage – BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds app and BBC Sport website

So here it is.

1,117 days after coach Brendon McCullum rounded up his players at Trent Bridge and said his side would go for an improbable win against New Zealand rather than bat out for a draw, England have the first real test of one of their most defiant mantras.

They need 536 runs on the final day to beat India in the second Test at Edgbaston – effectively an impossible task.

A more realistic chance of preserving their lead in this series is to survive with at least one of their seven remaining wickets intact, thus ensuring they leave Edgbaston with a draw and the series still 1-0 in their favour with three to play.

“Bazball’s going to get asked the ultimate question tomorrow,” former England captain Michael Vaughan told BBC Test Match Special.

“Are the team and the players going to go completely against what their natural instincts are to do?

After day one, Harry Brook doubled down, repeating what has always come out of this England dressing room on the topic.

“Everybody in the world knows we are going to try to chase whatever they set us,” he said.

Only last week, bowler Josh Tongue said there was no scenario where a draw would be a good result during the first Test in Leeds.

The danger of going for a win is that it offers more opportunities to the bowling side and increases the chances of defeat.

But speaking after day four, assistant coach Marcus Trescothick appeared to present a different message for the very first time.

“The situation is challenging, of course it is,” the former batter said.

“If you get to the point where you can draw the game, of course, we’re not stupid enough to think that you have to just win or lose.

“There are three results possible in every game that you play. “

That India batted on into the evening session at Edgbaston suggested they were wary of England’s ability to chase big scores.

The hosts completed a pursuit of 371 with five wickets to spare in Leeds last week and knocked off a record 378 to beat India by seven wickets on this very ground in 2022.

Four of England’s best 10 chases in the fourth innings – and their highest two – have come in the three years under Stokes and McCullum.

None have come close to this task, however. The highest successful chase in Test history is West Indies’ 418-7 against Australia in 2003.

Salvaging a draw on the fifth day is not simple either. England have only done so once in the past 12 years.

On that occasion, the fourth Test of the 2021-22 Ashes in Sydney, they started the final day with all 10 wickets in hand rather than the seven they have remaining here.

This Edgbaston pitch is also offering more spin and seam movement than at Headingley last week, plus some uneven bounce.

CricViz’s PitchViz, which ranks the difficulty of surfaces from one to 10 with the higher number being more difficult, gave this track a rating of 4. 6 at the end of day four, a deterioration from day one. At Headingley the day-four pitch was rated 3. 7, having got easier for batting since the opening day.

So it is clear the odds are stacked heavily against England.

As for positives, there is some rain forecast in the morning which could reduce the number of overs they have to bat.

Batting has also been far easier against the older, softer ball throughout this match and this current lump of leather is now 16 overs old.

In England’s first innings, India took five wickets for 85 runs with the first new ball and 5-31 with the second. In between, Brook and Jamie Smith combined for an epic partnership that yielded 303 runs.

“We have another 10-15 overs of the hardest point, before the ball gets a little bit soft, and we will see how we are going from that point,” Trescothick said.

There will still be 24 overs left in the day when India get their second new ball shortly after tea – if England can get there.