Ahmet Kaplan Finishes Runner-up at Roland Garros
Our national tennis player Ahmet Kaplan has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first Turkish tennis player to play in a final in the Quad category at Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam tournament of the season.
Facing world number 1 Niels Vink—one of the most successful names in wheelchair tennis with eight Grand Slam singles titles to his career—in the Roland Garros Quad final, Ahmet Kaplan finished the tournament in second place after a hard-fought match that ended with sets of 6-3, 6-4.
Drawing great attention with his stellar performance throughout the tournament, Ahmet Kaplan had advanced to the final by defeating world number 2 Sam Schröder in the semifinals, opening a brand new chapter in Turkish tennis history. With this result, Kaplan went down in history as the first Turkish athlete to ever reach a singles final in wheelchair tennis at Roland Garros.
Speaking at the award ceremony held after the final match, Ahmet Kaplan expressed his satisfaction with his achievement and stated the following:
"First of all, I want to congratulate Vink. I am very proud of myself. We did a great job with my team this week. I am proud of them too. I hope to see many more finals. Thanks to everyone."
The Dutch tennis player Niels Vink praised Ahmet Kaplan's performance, sharing the following evaluation:
"Congratulations to Ahmet, this is his first final. You had a very good tournament. Our matches are always highly competitive."
Bringing a monumental achievement to Turkish sports with this historic result at Roland Garros, Ahmet Kaplan has once again made a vital contribution to our country’s rise on the international stage in wheelchair tennis.
