Among the great sports talents that have emerged here in recent years, there’s no doubt that the name of the young tennis player, Mika Buchnik, stands in the front row. Buchnik, who is considered Israel’s great promise in one of the most popular and important sports in the world, has been playing tennis since she was 4 years old. She took her first steps in competitive sports when she was only 10 years old, and in less than seven years she has already conquered the local peak after being crowned Israeli champion in women’s tennis.
As far back as she can remember, she’s been on the courts, with a racket in hand. “I’ve been on the courts since age 4 and competing since age 10, and during all the years I’ve been playing tennis, I’ve had a few moments that I felt were the most significant and important for me”. The first was when she reached the final of Les Petits As, one of the world’s leading youth tennis tournaments. The second was last December, after she won the Israeli adult championship for the first time at the age of 16 and a half. “These were the two moments when I felt the most proud of myself for what I had achieved”, she recounts. This year she participated in the Junior Grand Slam in Melbourne, Australia – and reached the round of 32 in the tournament. “It was exciting and big and just gave me more motivation and a feeling that I’m in the right place for me”, she testifies.
Currently, Buchnik is ranked 35th in the world under 18 and there’s still room for improvement. “The big dream is to be one of the best and leading tennis players in the world”, she clearly marks the ultimate goal. “I feel that I wake up in the morning with great motivation to improve and become a better player. I dream of the moment when I’ll play in the biggest stadiums in the world as one of the leading players. I know I still have a very long way to go and I think that in tennis I’ll always feel that I have more to give because there’s no limit to what can be achieved in this sport”.
“At age 40, I see myself after a long career full of titles. I know what I need to do to get to a place where I’ll feel I’ve fulfilled myself in tennis, and I believe I can finish my career feeling proud of what I’ve achieved. When you get to play in the big tournaments, there are many opportunities and anything can happen”.
Like other athletes who represent the country in the current sensitive period, she also feels the burden: “Since the beginning of the war, every time I went to play in international competitions, I feared manifestations of antisemitism”, she admits. “There were indeed isolated cases where I felt that I was treated differently because I’m Israeli, but fortunately I didn’t encounter anything extraordinary. In places where there’s a Jewish community, there was a feeling of home and it makes me feel great pride to represent the flag”.
“When I won the Israeli adult championship at the end of last year, it felt even more significant and important that in a year of war I’m the Israeli champion and that it was even possible to hold a sports event at all – thanks to our soldiers and female soldiers”.
