13-year-old Turkmen tennis player Suleyman Hudayberdyev climbed the podium twice at an international tournament in Saudi Arabia. Held in Jeddah under the auspices of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF), the competition brought together 36 juniors under the age of 14 from 13 different countries.

​Our compatriot secured a silver medal in the singles category and claimed the top prize in the doubles event.

​On his way to the singles final, the top-seeded Suleyman achieved three consecutive victories, defeating Cameron Prattley (Hong Kong, China) 6-2, 6-1; Elias Algafli (Saudi Arabia) 6-1, 6-3; and Fahad Saif (Iraq) 6-0, 6-2.

​The final match for the championship was a rematch of the "Ashgabat Open 2024" final, where Suleyman faced the fourth seed, Muhammad Hassan Usmani from Pakistan. While in Ashgabat the Turkmen athlete managed to win only one game, this time Hudayberdyev showed much stronger resistance, taking four games—three in the first set and one in the second.

​In the doubles competition, the singles finalists joined forces and left no chance for their opponents. In the quarterfinals, they easily defeated Omar Hashem and Saif Hashem from Jordan (6-1, 6-1). In the semifinals, they beat the international duo of Marcus Lorenzo Go (Philippines) and Fahad Saif (Iraq) 7-5, 6-2. Finally, in the title match, they overcame the second-seeded pair Anas Alzahrani and Suhail El-Taji El-Farouki from Saudi Arabia in a super tie-break: 7-5, 4-6, 10-8.

​At the award ceremony, the prizes were presented to Suleyman Hudayberdyev by the world tennis legend Rafael Nadal—a 22-time Grand Slam champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist.

​Suleyman has been playing tennis since the age of 6. He first gained recognition in 2023 as part of the Turkmenistan national team, winning silver at the Central Asian Championship in Ashgabat. Last year was also successful: he won silver medals in doubles with Emirhan Rustamov in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and another silver with Russian player Jamal Khakimov at the Tajikistan President’s Cup.

​In October, Suleyman finished second in singles at the "3rd Qatar Asian Junior Tournament" in Doha, and in November, he repeated this success at the "Ashgabat Open 2024." Now, he has added gold and silver from the "Asian 14 & Under Category 2 Jeddah" to his collection.

​Suleyman successfully balances sports with his studies in the 8th grade at specialized secondary school No. 86 in Ashgabat and is fluent in English. He trains under the guidance of coach Gurbanberdy Gurbanberdyev. In a previous interview, Suleyman shared his dream: to become the world No. 1 and bring glory to Turkmenistan.

Reporter «ЗВ»

Sources: http://turkmenistan.gov.tm