Eva Lys had the season of her career in 2025.

After starting the year at No. 131 in the PIF WTA Rankings, the 23-year-old German rose steadily, cracking the Top 100 for the first time and then the Top 50. She played the main draw of every Grand Slam for the first time, and after racking up 34 wins (including a run to the fourth round of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals in Beijing), she finished 2025 ranked 40th (earning her a nomination for Newcomer of the Year). 

Lys expected the wins and the rise in the rankings to directly lead to more happiness and fewer worries. Instead, as she explained on the Tennis Insider Club podcast, the exact opposite happened. She felt intense pressure to keep up her winning ways, maintain momentum and not lose any ranking points, for fear of slipping back down.

Even though she was living her dream — more wins, more money, more exposure, main-entry into the biggest tournaments — the pressure was building, and it reached a tipping point she could no longer ignore. Shortly before Wimbledon she had a realization that completely shifted her perspective.

“I thought, ‘I’m really not having fun doing this,” she explained to co-hosts Caroline Garcia and Borja Duran. “And I’ve had fun my whole life.”

After identifying that the pressure was outweighing all the benefits that came with success, Lys took a different approach. Aided by her family, whom she was traveling with and who supports her unconditionally, she focused on trusting her game and her ability. And perhaps more importantly, she made an effort to just have fun and enjoy herself again.

“My family is the reason why I’m in the top 100,” she said. “They were the ones telling me, ‘Eva, chill. Even if you lose rankings [points], even if you lose every single round, you have the level. You’re gonna get there eventually. Just breathe. Don’t think about the results. Don’t think about the expectations of others. Just think about yourself and what makes you happy.'”

Lys took their words to heart, and closed out her season by winning eight of 11 matches in Asia. Her shining moment of the Asian swing came in Beijing, where she defeated WTA Finals champion Elena Rybakina en route to the quarters, her best-ever result at a WTA 1000 event.

You can watch the full conversation with Lys below.