Tennis began in Turkmenistan when it was a member of the Soviet Union, but it failed to grow due to its expensive and individual nature, meaning it was neglected financially by the government in favor of team sports. However, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan began developing its tennis players and, although many of their best players ended up emigrating and changing citizenship, the sport continued to grow in the country with support of the government and it became a full member of the International Tennis Federation in 1993. Ten years later, the first ITF tournament held in Turkmenistan was played as a Grade 5 junior event on during September 2003. The girls' singles edition consisted entirely of Turkmenistani players, and was won by seventeen-year-old Ummarahmat Hummetova, who defeated Almira Hallyeva in the final. Following this event, Hummetova ascended to the top seven-hundred junior singles rankings to become Turkmenistan's highest-ranked women's tennis player, and Hallyeva, who won the doubles edition of the event, became the top doubles player alongside her partner Veronika Babayan.