zeynep sonmez starts the main draw at the WTA 1000 Rome Open with one clear priority: stay healthy and keep playing. She said this clay season has gone better than last year, and the match load has already started to show it.
Her immediate target is simple. Sonmez wants to finish Rome without injury and reach Roland Garros with as many matches behind her as possible. She said she has had more time to prepare for clay this year and feels more experienced now.
Rome Open main draw
Sonmez was set to play the main draw at the WTA 1000 Rome Open the next day, a step up from last year’s trip to Italy, when she lost in the first round of qualifying. This time she enters the draw itself, carrying a recent 12-place rise in the WTA rankings from last month and the attention that came with her results at major tournaments this year, including the Australian Open.
The change in her own words is plain. Last year, Rome ended before the main event started. This year, she arrives with more court time on clay, a better feel for the surface, and a chance to turn that into a deeper run before the season moves toward Paris.
Clay season with Zeynep Sonmez
“Toprak sezonu geçen seneye göre daha güzel geçiyor. Benim için daha verimli oldu. Daha fazla maç oynadım. Geçen seneye göre biraz daha toprağa hazırlanma şansım oldu. Bence biraz daha tecrübeliyim. O yüzden şu an her şey yolunda. Güzel geçiyor. Umarım Roma da güzel geçecek,” she said.
She backed that up with a sharper target: “O yüzden sağlıklı kalabilmek istiyorum. İlk hedefim bu. Diğer hedefim de mümkün olduğunca Roland Garros'a gelene kadar da bol maç yapmak. Ne kadar çok maç yaparsam toprakta o kadar iyi.”
Those goals line up with where she has already been tested. Sonmez said she lost in the first round of Roland Garros last year, and she also fell in the first round of qualifying at Rome. The main-draw spot changes the setting, but her measure for the fortnight is still the same: stay on court long enough to keep building.
Wimbledon and the next stretch
Sonmez also looked beyond clay, saying Wimbledon is currently her favorite Grand Slam and that she likes playing on grass. She described the tournament’s atmosphere as magical, then linked that to the workload she wants to finish on clay: healthy, steady, and with more matches in the bank.
For now, the practical task is the one in front of her in Rome. She has moved up in the rankings, handled a stronger clay build-up, and moved from qualifying last year to the main draw this week. If she keeps that pattern going, the rest of the spring becomes about how much farther she can push before Roland Garros.
