‘Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still‘- here’s the story of a later bloomer in women’s tennis. America’s Emina Bektas is all set to take on Aryna Sabalenka in the first round of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Sabalenka is a two-time semifinalist in this historic tournament. However, the Belarusian recently revealed that she’s “not 100 percent” certain of playing her first-round match due to a “really rare” shoulder injury. So, there are chances that the 31-year-old American tennis player might end up facing a relatively easier opponent (lucky loser) in the R1 and move into the R2 of Wimbledon for the first time! Let’s know more about Emina Bektas’ journey so far.

Bektas (107) is a right-handed tennis player from Indianapolis, US. She has played most of her tennis on the ITF Challenger circuit and so far she has won 1 WTA Challenger and 7 ITF titles. Emina Bektas made her Grand Slam debut in the doubles event in 2016 and in the singles, she took six more years to make her first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. Her journey so far has been full of ups and downs.

She was introduced to the racquet sport when her parents moved from Germany to the US and after that, she spent the initial few years at the Indianapolis tennis community. After that, she joined John Newcombe Tennis Academy and also went to study at the University of Michigan (2011-2015). Speaking about her journey during an interview, Emina Bektas said, “I think each phase served its different purpose. Growing up, it’s first the technique, then I played tons and tons of matches and the training gets tougher at the academy level. And then finally in college, it’s the combination of the first two, plus just the growth you do as a person once you get to college.”

Her goal was always to play professional tennis, however she is an avid sports lover. She used to love joining her friends in the team events like football, basketball, and even soccer. Bektas always wanted to be a part of sports. The 2023 season gave her a major breakthrough, she won the WTA 125 Abierto Tampico and also reached the Top 100 for the first time in her career. Emina Bektas became the fourth oldest player to reach that milestone. What were her thoughts after achieving such an incredible feat in her career?

America’s Emina Bektas reveals she was “genuinely happy” after making it to the Top 100 last year

She reached a career-high ranking of number 82 on November 2023. After reaching the Top 100 at the age of 30, she said, “Haha, everyone keeps bringing up my age. Joking aside, I honestly was just really genuinely happy.” She further went on to add, “Even more so, I was happy for everyone around me. The people that stood by and supported me and helped me and continued to believe in me even through the very tough and low moments. I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this and stick through it without them.”

Reflecting a bit on her off-court life, Emina Bektas is homosexual. She was married to fellow professional player Tara Moore. However, according to the latest reports, both of them have now parted ways and Moore is currently in a relationship with a different person. Despite all these ups and downs in her on and off-court lives, Bektas has managed to follow her passion for the sport quite ardently. Now, it’ll be interesting to see how long can she stand against someone like Aryna Sabalenka in R1.