BRITISH No.3 Sonay Kartal is lighting up Wimbledon 2025, having also reached round three last year.
Here we take a look at her life and get to know her bodybuilder ‘boyfriend’ Luke Ogbourn.
Sonay Kartal has been in a relationship with bodybuilder Luke Ogbourn[/caption]
Luke brought Sonay flowers at Wimbledon in 2024[/caption]
She seemed very happy with the gallant gesture[/caption]
Sonay Kartal beat former French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko in round one of Wimbledon 2025.
She then stormed into round three for the second year running after a dominant and devastating victory over Viktoriya Tomova on Court No 3.
Next up, Sonay is taking on French qualifier Diane Parry on Friday, July 4, 2025.
Sonay has £152,000 in her back pocket but if she wins two sets, she will add an extra £68,000 to her bank balance.
The British No.3 said: “Obviously tennis is super expensive.
“When I was growing up, I kind of did quite a lot of tournaments on my own because I couldn’t afford to pay a coach week-in, week-out.
“It helped me develop as a teenager, grow up super fast, made me much more mature. I held myself accountable to a lot of things.
“The LTA helped me massively. It came at exactly the right time. It was when I started to come on the scene and was putting together a few good wins consistently.
“They really helped to give me all the equipment and access to everything I needed to develop as well.
“I’ve shot up the rankings. My game style really rocketed.
“My coaches back in the day, they would charge me I guess the lowest fee and would try to help me out as much as possible.
“I was out quite a lot of years injured as a teenager.
“I didn’t pick up a racquet for a couple years. I was kind of a bit inconsistent as I was going through my teenage years.”
Sonay was born in London, but grew up in Brighton with her family.
We don’t gym together at all
Sonay Kartal
She is of Turkish descent and her dad owned a “kebab takeaway” and “sit down restaurant”, serving Turkish food.
Off the court, Sonay has been in a relationship with bodybuilder Luke Ogbourn.
He even brought his beau a bouquet of flowers after she qualified for the first round of Wimbledon in 2024.
Who is Luke Ogbourn?
Luke Ogbourn is a British bodybuilder and strongman.
He is best known for being in a relationship with tennis ace Sonay Kartal.
Luke has been a visible and vocal supporter of Sonay, particularly during her impressive Wimbledon run last year and her first WTA singles title win at the Jasmin Open, also in 2024.
Per his Instagram bio, Luke took home the silver medal at the United Kingdom’s Strongest Man U23 competition in 2024, before going one better and securing gold at Iron Beasts 2024.
Luke Ogbourn won Iron Beasts 2024[/caption]
His profile regularly featured gym routines, rugby matches and highlights from his strongman competitions — but as of July 4, 2025, it seems to have been removed.
The relationship between Sonay and Luke has been public since at least November 2023, when their first photo together appeared on Ogbourn’s Instagram.
Their relationship drew more attention during Wimbledon 2024 — Luke supported Sonay online and in person, sharing affectionate messages and congratulating her after matches.
Despite both being athletes, Sonay said that they do not train together, telling the Express in 2024 that they “don’t gym together at all”.
She added: “I don’t lift cars and pull cars and things like that.
“Tennis is very specific training whereas he is just lifting as much weight as possibly as physically you can.”
However, it is unclear whether they remain an item — Luke hasn’t been spotted at Wimbledon this year.
All traces of their relationship seem to have totally disappeared from social media.
