Zeynep Sönmez recently opened up about the deep bond she shares with world No. 32 Alexandra Eala. The Turkish talent wrapped up her Indian Wells adventure after a hard-fought round of 64 match against World No. 22 Anna Kalinskaya, the tournament’s 23rd seed. Sönmez has already made waves on the WTA Tour by winning her maiden title in 2024 and staging standout performances at Wimbledon 2025 and Australian Open 2026.
Zeynep Sönmez Reflects on Her Friendship With Alexandra Eala
Sönmez kicked off her 2026 season at the Brisbane International and then made history at the Australian Open. Entering as a qualifier, she battled her way into the main draw and surged to the third round, becoming the first Turkish player ever to do so.
Riding this momentum, she entered the Middle East Swing, competing in the Abu Dhabi Open, Qatar Open, and Dubai Tennis Championships, and then powered through to the quarterfinals at the Merida Open Akron.
Meanwhile, her close friend Eala is blazing her own trail, reaching her breakthrough at the 2025 Miami Open by toppling three Major champions in straight sets as a wildcard in a single tournament, among other remarkable feats. The former World No. 31 impressively competed at Indian Wells, bowing out after a round-of-16 defeat to Linda Nosková.
During her recent appearance on the Hall of Famer’s podcast, ‘Love All with Kim Clijsters‘, with tennis reporter Blair Henley, Sönmez reflected on sharing a profound bond with Eala and why competition doesn’t change their friendship. The 23-year-old also has friendships with other players and wishes to be a pillar of support for them, given the sport’s demanding structure.
She mentioned her thoughts on navigating their friendship, adding, “Girlhood forever. So, it’s just, we’re in this together. We see each other more than we see our families, basically. So, why not be friends, you know? And with Alex, we’re very close. It’s not we’re just friends just in tennis, we’re friends even outside of tennis, we talk a lot we try to spend some time together, which is not very easy, but yeah, we met in, I would say, 2021, around that and since then like we’re very good friends.”
Girlhood forever 🤍
Zeynep Sönmez joins the show this week to talk mental strength, social media pressure and chosen family on tour- including her close friendship with Alex Eala.
Be sure to catch the full episode here! 🔗⬆️https://t.co/SSyF0LItF6 pic.twitter.com/qhoHDdzriQ
— Love All with Kim Clijsters (@loveallpodcast) March 11, 2026
Sönmez continued highlighting she wants to be friends withe everyone and become one of the players on whom others can rely, expressing, “I love to be friends with all of them because it’s just the struggles that we go through and the problems that we face like every it’s very similar and I always tell them, ‘If you guys need me I don’t know for what you would need me for, but I’m always here. If I can do anything, I would love to.'”
Beyond their close friendship, Sönmez and Eala have faced off three times, with Eala emerging victorious in every encounter to hold a commanding 3-0 lead.
