One of the most promising young tennis players of Turkmenistan, Ali Geldiyev, will compete for the first time in the Roland-Garros Junior Series by Renault Qualification for West and Central Asia international tournament, which will be held from the 17th to 22nd of August in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The competition will serve as a regional qualifying stage for tennis players from Central and Western Asia. Following the results of tournament, the strongest players will qualify for the final stage of the Roland-Garros Junior Series, which will take place in October in Japan. This is where tickets to the 2027 Roland Garros Junior Series, one of the most prestigious tournaments in world tennis, will be awarded.
The 14-year-old Turkmen athlete earned the right to compete in Almaty thanks to his international and Asian rankings, which allowed him to participate in the prestigious tournament. The invitation based on the ranking was further confirmation of Ali Geldiyev's high level of preparation and his consistent results on the international stage. Despite his young age, the Turkmen tennis player has already made a name for himself at major Asian competitions.
The first major international success of Ali came in October 2024 at the 3rd ATF U14 Asian Junior Tournament in Doha, Qatar. At that time, the 12-year-old athlete became the winner in two disciplines at once, winning the singles competition, as well as the doubles tournament together with Yunus Annamyradov. It is noteworthy that Ali began his path to the title with qualifying competitions, after which he won five more victories in a row in the main draw and became the winner of an international ATF tournament for the first time in his career.
In 2025, Ali Geldiyev became one of the leaders of the Turkmenistan youth team at the preliminary stage of the ITF World Junior U14 in Bahrain. The Turkmen tennis player won all of his singles matches, achieving a number of impressive victories, including over one of the strongest players of the region, Syrian Muhammad Eyad Salim. The confident performance of Ali helped the national team achieve its best result in the history of participation of Turkmenistan in these competitions.
Another remarkable achievement was the successful performance at the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) 14&Under international tournament, which took place in August 2025 in Nonthaburi (Thailand). In a competition featuring the strongest young tennis players from 12 countries, the Turkmen athlete once again achieved a «golden double», winning titles in both singles and doubles. In the second case, his partner was Kerimgeldi Guldurdyyev.
This season, Ali continued to make confident progress. In March 2026, he helped the Turkmenistan national youth team reach the final stage of the Junior Davis Cup under-16 qualification for the first time in history, having successfully performed in the preliminary tournament in Sri Lanka.
Two months later, Ali Geldiyev wrote his name into the history of national tennis by becoming the men's champion of Turkmenistan. By winning the national title at the age of 14, he set a record as the youngest winner of the national championship in history.
Ali began his career in tennis at the Children's and youth sports school № 9 in the city of Turkmenabat, where he trained under the guidance of Babamyrat Mamatrasulov. Today, the promising athlete is honing his skills in Ashgabat under the guidance of experienced coaches Meylis Orazmuhammedov and Yuriy Rogusskiy.
The upcoming tournament in Almaty will be another serious test for the young Turkmen tennis player and an opportunity to take another step toward competing at one of the most prestigious junior tennis competitions in the world – Roland Garros. A successful performance in Kazakhstan will allow Ali Geldiyev to continue his quest for a spot at the final stage of the Roland-Garros Junior Series in Japan, where the quota holders for the 2027 French Open Junior Championship will be determined.
For Turkmen tennis, the participation of a representative of the country in such a prestigious qualifying tournament is further confirmation of the successful development of this sport and the emergence of a new generation of talented athletes capable of competing with the strongest juniors in Asia.
