16.07.2016
Turkish tennis player Çağla Büyükakçay qualifies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games based on the ITF world rankings. Çağla Büyükakçay, a member of Turkish Olympic Committee’s (TOC) Executive Board and President of the TOC Athletes’ Commission, will be the first athlete to represent Turkey in tennis at the Olympic Games.
Çağla Büyükakçay
Çağla Büyükakçay, born 28 September 1989 in Adana, started playing tennis when she was 8 years old. She joined the Enka Sports Club in 2003 and one year later, at the age of 15, she was called up to the National Team to become the youngest national team player in the history of Turkish tennis. Büyükakçay turned pro when she was 17 and within a year, she was among the top 650 players in the world. She has since broken many records in Turkish tennis: In 2010, she achieved two Fed Cup successes, winning the 25K professional tournaments in Ukraine and Spain to become the first Turkish female tennis player to claim such titles. Büyükakçay went on to make history when she entered the US Open in 2010 and later on, the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. No other Turkish woman had previously played a Grand Slam. She won the silver medal in the doubles with Pemra Özgen at the 2009 Mediterranean Games in Pescara and at the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin, she won the gold medals in singles and pair - the first gold medals for Turkey in international tournaments. In April 2014, Büyükakçay advanced to her and Turkey’s first ever WTA quarterfinal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The same year, she also became the first Turkish player to rank among the top 150 players in both, singles and doubles, ranking 133rd and 126th respectively. By February 2015, she reached a career-high singles ranking of 108. She has become the first Turkish tennis player to win a WTA tournament after she defeated Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic 2-1 in a scintillating final at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup International Women’s Tournament in April 2016. Çağla made Turkish womens’ tennis history placing 73rd in the ITF world ranking list. Turkish Champion in 12, 14, 16 and 18 age groups and twice in the seniors’, Çağla Büyükakçay has worn the national jersey successively for 12 years. Büyükakçay was awarded with the 2015 Fed Cup Heart Award for her performance in the Europe/Africa Zone Group. She also had served for Istanbul’s Bid Committee for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.