Meet the ITF World Tennis Tour Player Panel: Akgul Amanmuradova

Last month, the ITF announced the players elected to the newly-created ITF World Tennis Tour Player Panel. The members will sit on the Panel until the end of the 2021 season and for two-year terms thereafter.

We spoke to all the players on both the men's tennis and women's tennis panels, to find out about their tennis careers to date and their hopes for what they can achieve during their time as panel members. On the women's tennis panel we have already spoken to the other six panel members: Conny Perrin, Olivia Tjandramulia, Petra Januskova, Yuliana Lizarazo, Ines Ibbou and Tara Moore.

The final member of the women's tennis panel is Akgul Amanmuradova, a 36-year-old player from Uzbekistan. Amanmuradova is a former Top 50 player in both singles and doubles, reaching career-high WTA rankings of No. 50 in singles in May 2008 and No. 36 in doubles in January 2010. She has won two WTA doubles titles in addition to multiple singles and doubles titles on the ITF women's circuit. She has also competed at all four Grand Slam events, reaching the 3rd round at Roland Garros in 2010 and at the US Open in 2011, and represented Uzbekistan at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and in Fed Cup. Here's what she had to say...

***

I started to play at seven years old, but only played in the fall. Then winter came, and I kind of stopped! But I started again in spring and maybe played another two to three months. It was like that for another three years or so. I didn’t take tennis seriously, just played when it was warm.

Then at 10 years old I started to practice more regularly, going to the tennis club to play three to four times a week. I didn’t play a lot of junior tournaments because of school – my parents were always serious about education. I played after school and I competed at a few tournaments but mostly ones in Uzbekistan or countries near to Uzbekistan, so I could go for one week and get back to school.

So my junior career wasn’t amazingly successful, but then at 18, I started playing some pro tournaments. The first was the only pro tournament in Uzbekistan, then I went to India for two weeks, won some points and got a ranking finally. I was still playing just 10-15 weeks a year. I wasn’t sure whether I would go to university or continue my pro career, and had some financial issues. I eventually decided to go professional, but also graduated from Tashkent State University of Economics mainly by doing distance-learning online. I began my pro career in 2002.

The best moment of my career was the Olympic Games – I reached my best ranking of No. 50 in the world and managed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Winning my first professional tournament – a $10,000-level event in Mumbai – will always be something I remember. Other highlights are reaching two finals of WTA events (in Tashkent in 2005 and 2009), as well as winning two WTA doubles titles in 2009 (Eastbourne) and 2011 (Strasbourg).

Representing my country in events like the Asian Games and Fed Cup too, those are moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It’s a great honour to represent your country at the Olympics too – the moment we entered the Olympic Stadium in Beijing is something I’ll always remember, it’s so much bigger than a tennis event, you feel like you’re part of something huge.

Of course, I am a tennis player, so competing in all four Grand Slams, playing on the Centre Court at Wimbledon and in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, breaking the Top 100, then the Top 50… those are personally very important moments for me. I believe they’re also important in the history of tennis in my country. There’s a lot to remember – and they all bring a smile to my face!

I was part of the WTA Player Council for almost eight years, and I really enjoyed being part of this amazing group of girls. I thought I could share my experience and also try to establish better communication between the players and the ITF as a member of the player panel. I’m very curious as to how the ITF works, and I thought this could be a good first step of understanding the relationship between players, the ITF and other federations. I’m willing to share my experience and help, and hopefully the creation of the panel will benefit both the players and the ITF.

It’s extremely important that players are heard and we can represent the whole group. Compared to the WTA Player Council, we will be representing even more players. We have an opportunity to establish better communication and I’m really looking forward to working with the ITF as part of the player panel.