Who is Zeynep Sonmez, the Wimbledon with the ‘Palestine’ watermelon racket?

Zeynep Sonmez‘s 2026 Wimbledon singles run came to a halt successful the 2nd circular pursuing a 7-5, 6-3 decision to American Claire Liu.

But the 24-year-old Turkish tennis subordinate near an indelible people connected the tourney by taking a quiescent yet almighty stance for Palestine, connected the iconic writer courts of London.

Prevented by tourney organisers from displaying a pro-Palestinian solidarity brooch connected her attire, Sonmez creatively attached a watermelon-themed vibration dampener connected her racket strings.

The watermelon has go a awesome of Palestinian solidarity and pridefulness among activists aft Israel suppressed displays of the Palestinian flag. The watermelon not lone has the aforesaid colours arsenic Palestine’s emblem – red, achromatic and achromatic – but the effect is also 1 of the astir fashionable crops for farmers crossed Palestine.

Speaking to Turkiye’s Anadolu bureau soon aft her match, Sonmez exposed the bureaucratic hurdles she faced and what she perceived arsenic a glaring treble modular from planetary tennis administrators regarding governmental expression.

Zeynep Sonmez of Turkiye, who uses a watermelon-shaped vibration dampener connected her racket, and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain play Shuko Aoyama of Japan and En-Shuo Liang of Taiwan successful the Ladies Doubles contention during time 4 of The Wimbledon Tennis Championships astatine All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club connected July 2, 2026, successful London, UK [Ray Tang/Anadolu]

“I utilized to deterioration a brooch, but tournaments nary longer let maine to deterioration it,” she said. Sonmez pointed retired that tennis authorities person not barred athletes from displaying the Ukrainian emblem successful solidarity with Kyiv during the warfare with Russia.

“I argued with the managers that the Ukrainian emblem is allowed, but the Palestinian 1 is not. Following our conversations, they stated that they strictly would not licence it,” she added.

Faced with a strict prohibition connected her covering accessories, Sonmez has adopted the watermelon awesome arsenic a imperishable fixture connected her racket.

She said tourney officials could not entity to her circumstantial instrumentality choices, and her quiescent defiance drew praise backmost location successful Turkiye.

Turkish Youth and Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak publically applauded her amusement of solidarity amid the humanitarian calamity successful Palestine and said this showed however sports tin beryllium utilized to beforehand cosmopolitan quality values.

Omer Celik, spokesperson for Turkiye’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), besides praised Sonmez for keeping quality dignity live amid Israel’s ongoing genocidal warfare connected Gaza, which has killed astatine slightest 73,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.

Sonmez expressed immense gratitude for the overwhelming question of nationalist support, emphasising to Anadolu that this backing made her consciousness arsenic though she were ne'er unsocial connected the court.

From Istanbul ballgirl to the ‘golden racket’

Beyond the caller governmental spotlight, Sonmez is authoring an unprecedented section successful Turkish sports history. Born successful Istanbul connected April 30, 2002, and with heavy familial roots successful the Black Sea coastal municipality of Arhavi, Sonmez’s travel to the precocious echelons of tennis has been built connected semipermanent dedication.

Her top dreams were ignited a decennary agone erstwhile she worked arsenic a humble ballgirl astatine a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tourney successful Istanbul. Watching her compatriot Cagla Buyukakcay unafraid a historical rubric connected location ungraded served arsenic the eventual inspiration for the young athlete.

Recognised aboriginal for her immense potential, section Turkish sports media confidently dubbed her the “golden racket of the future” arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2016. She has spent 15 years turning that prediction into reality, yet earning the prestigious Athlete of the Year grant astatine the Harper’s Bazaar Turkiye Women of the Year ceremonial successful Istanbul pursuing her breakthrough 2025 season.

EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND – JUNE 25: Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia celebrates pursuing triumph against Zeynep Sonmez of Turkiye during the Women’s Singles Quarter Final connected Day Four of the Lexus Eastbourne Open astatine Devonshire Park connected June 25, 2026 successful Eastbourne, England [Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images for LTA]

Guided by her existent coaches, Issam Jellali and Mehmet Bayraktar, Sonmez’s meteoric emergence was prompted by important method adjustments and immense intelligence resilience. A captious turning constituent successful her vocation took spot aft a heartbreaking Wimbledon qualifying decision to Ukrainian subordinate Daria Snigur.

Following this profound loss, Sonmez intentionally adopted a overmuch much aggressive, net-rushing benignant to perfectly complement her famously beardown question and agility connected the court.

Throughout her accelerated ascent, she has fiercely emphasised the values of hope, relentless focus, and axenic sportsmanship. This unwavering committedness to integrity was famously demonstrated during a notable fair-play infinitesimal astatine a tourney successful Monastir. During a tense match, she and her hostile Eva Lys remarkably corrected enactment calls successful each other’s favour, a uncommon show of communal respect that earned her wide admiration crossed the nonrecreational tour.

Rewriting the Turkish tennis grounds books

Her caller campaigns bespeak a subordinate operating astatine the implicit highest of her career. Sonmez has accumulated $625,019 successful vocation prize money, registering a highly competitory win/loss grounds of 24 wins and 15 losses crossed 30 competitory matches this calendar twelvemonth alone. Her tactical improvement has translated into historic, record-breaking milestones connected the planetary tour.

She claimed her archetypal vocation WTA 250 singles rubric astatine the hard-court lawsuit successful Merida, Mexico, successful 2024, dominating American Ann Li 6-2, 6-1 successful a swift 70-minute final.

With continued beardown showings crossed the globe, including a second-round quality astatine the prestigious WTA 1000 lawsuit successful Rome, Sonmez shattered Buyukakcay’s erstwhile nationalist ranking grounds of No 60. She officially became the highest-ranked Turkish tennis subordinate successful WTA history, climbing past the Top 60 to scope her existent career-high fertile of No 51 successful the world.

Sonmez has repeatedly proven her formidable quality to vie with and decision immoderate of the sport’s elite connected its biggest and astir intimidating stages. She made past by becoming the precise archetypal Turkish subordinate successful the Open Era, antheral oregon woman, to scope the 3rd circular of a Grand Slam tourney astatine Wimbledon successful the summertime of 2025.

Proving that her occurrence connected writer was nary fluke, she successfully repeated this awesome third-round feat connected the hard courts of the Australian Open successful 2026. During her singular tally successful Melbourne, she defeated Hungary’s Anna Bondar successful consecutive sets, 6-2, 6-4, and secured a stunning three-set triumph implicit the 11th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova (7-5, 4-6, 6-4) earlier yet falling to Yulia Putintseva. Furthermore, she added a immense milestone triumph to her increasing resume astatine the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix successful Stuttgart, wherever she thoroughly dominated satellite No 8 Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2 to unafraid the archetypal Top 10 triumph of her career.