Portrait of Sinja Kraus

She admires Roger Federer for his "ease and lightness on the court", enjoys reading romance novels and loves listening to music by Ed Sheeran. "But not before the match like many other players who walk around with headphones, I'm an atypical tennis player," says Sinja Kraus. The 19-year-old Viennese experienced a special moment of happiness on Friday afternoon when she received a wildcard for the main draw of the WTA tournament "Upper Austria Ladies Linz 2021" from tournament director Sandra Reichel.

Sinja Kraus, who is coached by Iranian Babak Momeni, graduated from high school two years ago and has been an army athlete for a year. 2021 has been a very successful year for the 19-year-old, who won a 15,000-dollar tournament in Cairo in January and reached the final at a tournament in Vienna around a month ago. Sinja made her first major appearance at the Linz women's tennis classic on Saturday afternoon when she took part in the draw ceremony at the Linz AG Eisarena together with three other WTA players (Sorana Cirstea, Alison van Uytvanck and Julia Grabher). A wonderful experience for Sinja Kraus, who has set herself a high goal for her tennis career. Her answer to the question of where she wants to go was short and to the point: "I want to be in the top ten!"

"Sinja is one of the best domestic talents and has made a huge leap in performance this year. She is an aggressive, very courageous player who really goes for the ball. She always tries to apply a lot of pressure and is very motivated. Sinja even reached the final of the national league this year with UTC Fischer Ried," says ÖTV sports coordinator Marion Maruska.