They grew up as tennis rivals, fiercely playing against each other at the National Tennis Centre in 2011 as nine-year-olds.
But breakout star Sonay Kartal looks to be finally stepping out from under the shadow of her famous friend Emma Raducanu as she soared into the last 16 at SW19 for the first time yesterday.
The 23-year-old wildcard eased past French qualifier Diane Parry with a flawless straight set 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Meanwhile British No 1 Ms Raducanu was in action against number one seed Aryna Sabalenka on Centre Court last night. She was again cheered on by former tennis prodigy Benjamin Heynold, 24, with rumours of a possible romance between the pair continuing to spread.
Ms Kartal said it was an ‘honour’ to be one of three Britons still standing at Wimbledon – despite a record start at SW19 for the nation with 23 home players – after Cameron Norrie also booked his place in the fourth round by defeating Mattia Bellucci in straight sets.
Coming from humble beginnings in Brighton where her parents ran a kebab shop, rising star Ms Kartal is now on the brink of becoming a millionaire.
If she makes the quarter finals she will have clocked up £400,000 in prize money – she has already pocketed £240,000 by making the fourth round, bringing her total career earnings to £972,000.
Ms Kartal, who is 5ft 4in tall, vowed to come out swinging in her next match against the World No 50, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, tomorrow.
Breakout star Sonay Kartal looks to be finally stepping out from under the shadow of her famous friend Emma Raducanu as she soared into the last 16 at SW19 for the first time on Friday
Sonay Kartal (left) and Emma Raducanu (right) are friends but grew up as childhood rivals on the court
Emma Raducanu (pictured) was eliminated in the third round at Wimbledon after a fiercely-fought contest against number one seed Aryna Sabalenka
Talking about how she would handle the pressure, Ms Kartal said: ‘I enjoy it. I think it’s an honour. Obviously, you’ve got a lot of attention on you, it means you’re doing good things.
‘I feel like I’m going to go out on the court in the next round kind of with nothing to lose at the minute.
‘I’m going to go swinging. I think the pressure that I’ll feel is the pressure I will be putting on myself just wanting to perform as best as I can.’ Ms Kartal said her ‘closest family’ was in her box on Court One cheering her on while her ‘club members that I’ve known since I was six’ were in the stands. ‘That was super special,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t necessarily see them, but I could hear a lot of familiar voices in the crowd, which was definitely nice.’
Born in Sidcup, Kent, to Clare and Muharrem Kartal, she had a modest upbringing in Brighton where her father owned two Turkish restaurants. She started playing when she was six by following her brother to a training session after an invitation from a coach who ate in their father’s restaurant.
Earlier this week the player spoke out about how her family could not afford a full-time coach and that she was forced to go to some of the tournaments herself while her coaches undercharged her to help out. The British No 3 said: ‘Obviously tennis is super expensive. When I was growing up, I kind of did quite a lot of tournaments on my own because I couldn’t afford to pay a coach week in, week out.
‘My coaches back in the day, they would charge me I guess the lowest fee and would try to help me out as much as possible.’
While Ms Raducanu was riding high after her US Open win, Ms Kartal had little support until she received LTA backing aged 19 which meant she received Pro Scholarship Programme funding. Ms Kartal has previously said that she sees her former rival as an inspiration.
‘I grew up playing Emma, so it proves to me that the dream of making it in tennis is not too far away,’ she said.
While Ms Raducanu was riding high after her US Open win, Ms Kartal had little support until she received LTA backing aged 19 which meant she received Pro Scholarship Programme funding
Born in Sidcup, Kent, to Clare and Muharrem Kartal, she had a modest upbringing in Brighton where her father owned two Turkish restaurants. Pictured: In the third round of Wimbledon yesterday
As well as being applauded for her impressive run at SW19, Ms Kartal, who has 14 tattoos, is also being hailed as a trendsetter with her throwback 70s baggy Adidas kit
The British hopeful also saw her career blighted by injuries in her teenage years – a wrist problem from the ages of 14 to 17 left her struggling to pick up a racket, which was followed by two abdominal tears.
Speaking about the difficulties of those years, Ms Kartal said last night: ‘It was a bit hit or miss. I was injured for a few years on and off. I kind of never really got consistent.
‘I was still playing at the club I’m at today down in Brighton. I was playing national events, the LTA events, doing the nationals for each age group.
‘Then I would just go missing a little bit because I’d have an injury or something like that. So it was never consistent.’
Ms Kartal’s success this week has seen her rankings soar – this time last year she was just inside the top 300 in the world but now she sits in 51st place, and is likely to rise further.
As well as being applauded for her impressive run at SW19, Ms Kartal, who has 14 tattoos, is also being hailed as a trendsetter with her throwback 70s baggy Adidas kit.
After her win yesterday, she invited fans to make suggestions for designs her 15th tattoo to mark her impressive run.
‘If people want to send me their ideas, I will most likely pick one of them and will probably chuck it on somewhere,’ she said.
