Chennai Open | Top seed Sonmez eager to put her best foot forward

Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez is having fun with her observe session on Court docket No. 5 on the Nungambakkam Stadium right here on Sunday. As her coaching associate hits the ball straight to a woman in a close-by home, she exudes a giant smile.

The 23-year-old is in good spirits. She has climbed to a career-best rating of 69. Not simply that, she is the highest seed within the WTA 250 Chennai Open starting on Monday.

On a sombre observe, she has been with no coach for greater than a yr, after splitting up with Mert Ertunga. Sonmez, nevertheless, mentioned she is kind of glad together with her psychological and health coach Mehmet Bayraktar with whom she has been working for the final seven years.

On the significance of a wellness coach, Sonmez mentioned: “We’ve been working collectively. Once you’re within the high 100, everybody hits the ball, I imply, fairly comparable. It’s necessary how do you put together and keep mentally within the match. However hopefully, I’ll begin working by the tip of the yr with a coach.”

Successful her first WTA Tour title within the Merida Open Akron final yr was an enormous achievement for one who began a ball woman when she was 5 years previous.

“It was undoubtedly essential for me and for my nation, too. I noticed that I can play tennis in a superb degree for a couple of or two matches, which gave me quite a lot of confidence. And I really feel very completely satisfied until this present day as a result of I received Merida 250,” she mentioned.

A trailblazer for her nation, Sonmez is raring to place her greatest foot ahead right here. “There aren’t any quick or long-term targets, I simply need to play higher tennis every day,” she mentioned.