Sonay Kartal becoming British number one may actually not be as good as it may seem for British tennis.
Kartal lost to Maja Chwalinska at the Wuhan Open, where she reached the biggest final of her career after beating the likes of Elina Svitolina, Jasmine Paolini and Belinda Bencic.
Despite Kartal being unable to capture the title in Wuhan, her run to the final is undoubtedly a huge success for British tennis. It is also significant as it has allowed Kartal to make a huge jump up the rankings and dethrone Katie Boulter to become British number one for the first time.
While Kartal’s resurgence may seem only positive, it should also raise concerns for other British WTA players.
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Sonay Kartal is British number one without playing for six months this year
The Wuhan Open was actually only Kartal’s second WTA Tour level event back since she returned to competition from a stress fracture in her back, which kept her out of action for six months.
It is remarkable how quickly Kartal has returned to form and has arguably achieved the biggest thing in her career already since returning from her injury. Kartal deserves nothing but praise for both her dedication and perseverance, but it does not mean that British tennis is now in a brilliant place.
As a result of her lengthy injury absence, Kartal had dropped all the way down to world number 170 and has now made a colossal jump up to world number 49. While this is a big boost for Kartal, it is still not bettered her career-high ranking of world number 44, which she achieved in July last year.
Given that Kartal has spent half the year on the sidelines, it should be disappointing for other British players that she has already overtaken them.
Currently Boulter is closest to Kartal, ranked nine places below the new British number one, followed by Fran Jones and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu, who appears to have ended her season after being out with a stress fracture in her right lower leg since the grass court season.
Raducanu will likely challenge Kartal for the British number one ranking next year if she stays fit, but for the likes of Boulter, Jones and Harriet Dart, it appears less likely, given that they have had less interrupted seasons.
| Top five British WTA players | Current WTA ranking |
| Sonay Kartal | No.49 |
| Katie Boulter | No.58 |
| Fran Jones | No.99 |
| Emma Raducanu | No.109 |
| Harriet Dart | No.117 |
Sonay Kartal has a huge opportunity to keep climbing up the rankings
While there should be some concern about other British WTA players, there should be a great deal of optimism about the future of Kartal.
Kartal has already broken back into the top 50, and it is now almost inevitable that she will go on to have a new career-high ranking in the coming year.
Despite being the world number 49, Kartal’s ranking is only made up of nine tournaments and if she is able to remain injury-free next year then she will have lots of opportunities to pick up tournaments, particularly at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, all tournaments she missed this year.
| Tournaments on Sonay Kartal’s ranking | Points Sonay Kartal is defending |
| Open de Limoges – December 2025 | 15 (R16) |
| Auckland Open – January 2026 | 54 (QF) |
| Australian Open – January 2026 | 10 (R128) |
| Abu Dhabi Open – February 2026 | 133 (QF – Came through qualifying) |
| Qatar Open – February 2026 | 30 (R64 – Came through qualifying) |
| Dubai Tennis Championships – February 2026 | 20 (Second round qualifying) |
| Indian Wells – March 2026 | 120 (R16) |
| China Open – October 2026 | 65 (R32) |
| Wuhan Open – October 2026 | 650 (F) |
Kartal has shown a level of play that is well within the top 30, and possibly even the top 20, at the Wuhan Open this year and there is no reason why she cannot try to be ranked that highly over the coming year.
Having withdrawn from the Japan Open in Osaka, Kartal is scheduled to continue her momentum in qualifying at the Tokyo Open and then conclude her season in Hong Kong, both tournaments where she can gain even more points.
