The 22-year-old British player started the season worried that she wouldn’t be able to participate due of a health concern that had her “in and out of the hospital”.
Kartal is currently processing the finest season of her career, eight months later.
She broke into the world’s top 100 for the first time after winning her first WTA Tour championship two weeks ago in Monastir.
“We had a long talk about whether or not I would be physically capable of playing on a matchcourt this season. I was completely ignorant. A lot of things were unclear,” Kartal said to Sport.
The year got off to a good start.
Kartal returned to competition at an ITF event in Loughborough, the third tier of events below the WTA Tour and Challenger Tour, after missing out since October due to an injury. She won her tenth career championship there.
She talked about her goals of “keeping as fit as possible” and going on tour for “a long season” after that.
Fate adopted an unkind turn.
Kartal’s health became more questionable in a matter of weeks, necessitating hospital care and multiple tests that kept her out of the game until April.
