For Mariam Bolkvadze, a breakthrough years in the making finally arrived at home

LONDON -- On Wednesday, Georgian qualifier Mariam Bolkvadze made history for her country by defeating Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in the first round, becoming the first woman representing Georgia to win a match at Wimbledon.

Only two other Georgian women have previously competed in the Wimbledon main draw -- Ekaterine Gorgodze and Leila Meskhi, who reached the second round in 1988 before Georgia's independence in 1991 while competing for the Soviet Union. It's not Bolkvadze's first breakthrough on this stage, either. The 28-year-old reached the second round of the 2019 US Open as a qualifier before a series of injuries interrupted her momentum.

In 2023, a year after reaching a career-high No. 151, Bolkvadze underwent shoulder surgery and missed 10 months. Last year, she tore both hamstrings and also required hand surgery. After another eight-month layoff between last July and this March, Bolkvadze is now ranked No. 545 and entered the qualifying draw using a protected ranking.

"It's been a really rough journey for me," Bolkvadze said after qualifying last week. "But I am happy that I'm healthy now. My top priority for this comeback was to just keep being healthy."

And it's appropriate that Bolkvadze's return to form has come at Wimbledon. After all, it's virtually her home tournament. She moved to London when she was 13 years old to train in the city, and now lives with her fiancé, Josh, in Putney, just three miles north of Wimbledon.

"I feel like this is my second home, if not my first," Bolkvadze, who speaks English with a distinct British accent, said. "Honestly, it feels like my home Slam. I train here locally, and it feels like a really nice moment for me."

And there's another connection to a familiar face in London's Georgian community: Bolkvadze's godmother, Tamara, is the mother of platinum-selling jazz and blues singer Katie Melua. Melua's father, Amiran, was the one who first encouraged Bolkvadze to play tennis, and she stayed with the Melua family when she moved to London.

Melua is out of Britain on holiday before beginning a European tour next week, but she's cheering Bolkvadze on from afar.

"I am just overjoyed at Mariam's progress at Wimbledon," Melua said via email. "We have spent many summers in Georgia together as our families are so close. My mum and her mum are best friends, and my dad has always been crazy about tennis -- he's the tennis expert in our family.

"Our whole family is beyond excited by each match she's playing. As a person, Mariam is one of the kindest, sweetest and most dedicated people I know. Mariam's mum and my parents were at the match yesterday, and as you can imagine, our family WhatsApp is utterly gripped by it all."

Bolkvadze's time away from the tour has also given her the chance to pursue several interests off the court. She's currently working toward an undergraduate degree -- majoring in psychology with a minor in business administration -- through the WTA Tour's partnership with Indiana University.

And she's becoming familiar with high-level panelist experience: in 2023, she spoke at the Council of Europe's EPAS Statutory Committee meeting about gender inequality and sports integrity, and this April she was invited to the Cruyff Institute's Sports Education Forum in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.

Bolkvadze recalls her Council of Europe experience -- her first in that field -- as "nerve-wracking, but really cool." At the Sports Education Forum, speaking in front of Georgians, she was able to discuss the contrasting sports cultures of Eastern and Western Europe in the context of mental health.

"The mentality is a little bit different in Georgia," she said. "The harsher [Eastern] way doesn't work for me, for sure. It never did since I was little. It works for some, but I really wanted people to just enjoy the sport they do, enjoy the process of it, not to think about results as much and just think about their improvements as players and people. That's what helped me, so I thought it would be a nice message to get through.

"You need to keep the enjoyment there for you to keep going. This is something I worked a lot with my sports psychologist about. My top priority is to be proud of myself and my own behaviors."

Over the years, Bolkvadze has had to rely on that fundamental enjoyment even more as she's repeatedly had to work her way back from injury. Lately, she's also been inspired by Roland Garros finalist Maja Chwalinska, who was sidelined twice after reaching the Top 200 before her memorable breakthrough last month.

"I was watching all her matches throughout the last few weeks," Bolkvadze said. "I just love stories like that because they really show you that you can do it too. She's one of those girls that I've seen around on tour, and she's lovely."

When Bolkvadze embarked on her latest comeback this year, she told herself it would be her last. But she's already taking that back: for all that opportunities await outside tennis, there's still unfinished business on court.

"I always knew that if not for the injuries, I would be able to get much higher in rankings," she said. "I want to give myself a real chance at that. I want to become the best version of myself on court. I know that I've still got a lot of stuff that I can improve -- mentally as well as physically and technically. That's the motivation for me. I know that I've got a lot more in me."

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