In what was an insightful and thoughtful interview with young Berfu Cengiz, a 16 year old Turkish top junior, I delved into more detail of what shaped the player to the human-being she is today.
Berfu started playing tennis at 5 years of age. Nurtured into the very talented player Berfu is today, she’s been guided by her father, physical education teacher and coach Hakan. Berfu states, “I started tennis because of him”. We often see many tennis players go through the early development stages of their career firmly standing side-by-side with relatives, before propelling onto the big stage, but it felt to me like Berfu was tremendously content with the set up she has at the minute. Particularly with the fact that her father has a huge influence on her tennis.
Through watching many of her matches, I recognized her ability to create a lot of pace and velocity off the forehand wing, which is the very shot that will likely dictate the destination of her future career. Like we see from many young players, they have the ability to hit fearsome forehands from any part of the court, but the most important element to that shot is harnessing and controlling that power in the very big moments, which I’m sure will be one of the determining factors to just how far Berfu Cengiz can go in the juniors, and eventually, the women’s game.
Cengiz said to me, upon being asked about her favourite court surface, that she “played grass only once, but she really liked it!”, she was referring to her experience playing the Wimbledon Juniors last year, where she managed to win a match on a surface that was alien to her. Furthermore, the two players Cengiz says she idolizes and admires are Kim Clijsters, who had a consistent backhand and a powerful forehand like Berfu’s. and garbine MuguruzG’s game style, who of course was acknowledged for her adaptation to the grass surface last Wimbledon by making the final, despite having a great deal of familiarity, having grown up on the Spanish clay courts. Cengiz actually mentioned she “enjoyed playing on both grass and clay courts”, so perhaps we might see an all-round player in the future that can apply herself to multiple surfaces?
Predominantly Berfu plays a lot of her tennis and seeks most of her development within Turkey in an academy in Istanbul, like many of the top players of today, most of the development comes from within before exploring in even greater adventures as the player gets older, but to me Berfu gave me the impression that she had a great perspective for the present and the future, despite only being 16 years of age, which was really refreshing to see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee7U3PTBlcU
I asked Cengiz, whether she’d be playing mainly junior events next year, or whether herself and Father Hakan, would decide to play higher level events in the pro circuit, in which Berfu replied ” I’m playing this year both junior and ITF pro events” Cengiz has found a lot of success in the 10k level of the ITF circuit, reaching the final in Antalya 10k last year, the same event she’s set to play next week. But the player, with a ferocious forehand, has already tasted WTA level events at the age of just 15, as she appeared in a WTA event in Istanbul last year, which she lost in qualifying, after getting a match win under her belt.
Cengiz also holds firm that she’s satisfied with the close-knit team she has, after I’d questioned whether she has close friendships with anyone on the tour. She reiterated “No just me and I stay with my family”. which can be envisioned as a good move particularly as many argue that the years of 16-20 in a tennis player often plays the biggest part in just how good a player can become.
Lastly, I was intrigued about the goals that Berfu Cengiz had set for 2016, and I was also interested whether she’d really want to share that with me, as we know many top players like to keep their cards close to their chest. Cengiz wasn’t in that category. Cengiz, who’s currently at World No 559 in the women’s rankings and World No 42 in the juniors, said “I want a junior ranking of 20 in the world and a WTA ranking of 400”, which was a pragmatic and realistic approach for someone of such a young age. Cengiz also identified that she aims to be a junior grand slam champion, which also indicates the wild adventure behind the talented, young tennis player from Turkey.
Main Photo:
