Chinese players have been competing at a good level in women’s tennis for decades. Although none has achieved the success that Li Na, winner of two Grand Slams (Roland Garros 2011 and Australian Open 2014) and former world number two, had in her day, there are currently seven in the Top-100 who entered the Australian Open main draw: Qinwen Zheng (15th), Lin Zhu (32nd), Xinyu Wang (36th), Xiyu Wang (60th), Yue Yuan (61st), Zhuoxuan Bai (87th) and Yafan Wang (94th).
But until just over a year ago, there was hardly a trace of his compatriots on the men’s circuit. Now there are three increasingly closer to the elite: Zhizhen Zhang (54th), Yibing Wu (119th) and Juncheng Shang (140th), invited at 18 years old for the Oceanic Grand Slam and the only survivor in the third round. This Saturday he will face Carlos Alcaraz. Further down appears, with 21 and 170º, Yunchaokete Bu.
Why is Chinese men’s tennis rearing its head now? Among other things, because for some time now there have been more courts, competitions and coaches in the vast territories of the Asian giant, as reflected in an article written by Robert Davis for the ATP.
“Since 2000, China has invested a lot in tennis and in coaches,” confirms Nahúm García, who coached Wu Yibing from the age of 10 to 17. “That has changed the mentality. Before they did not have a culture of playing tennis at the national level, now local circuits and competitions between cities are being created.” It is a minority sport that is hardly played, except in the ‘sports universities’, which sign players who stand out and give them a salary for practicing various sports. “Apart from that there is nothing, except very expensive academies in important cities like Beijing and Shanghai,” says García.
“In China, people don’t play and don’t know what tennis is. Other racket sports predominate, such as badminton or ping pong. That is why there are very few who play and they have to travel many kilometers to do so, but there is no audience either,” he adds.
Therefore, connections with other countries, such as those between Beijing and Bradenton (United States) and Shanghai and Spain, are decisive for its growth. The academies of these countries have focused on the potential of their tennis players, as happened in the case of Qinwen Zheng, who after training in Wuhan and Beijing ended up in Barcelona with Pere Riba as coach, with whom he has been working again since last month. December after a brief separation during which the Catalan made Coco Gauff US Open champion.
The common denominator of elite Chinese tennis players is leaving the country. “Shang Juncheng went to the United States, Wu came to Spain, Qinwen Zheng to Barcelona. When they go outside is when they have the opportunity, that’s why they are different,” García confirms.
In 1993, Desmond Tyson, a former Australian tennis player, went to China on a goodwill mission between governments to help the country’s team and train new technicians. A precarious situation was found (“They strung the rackets with fishing line”), but an interesting raw material and a desire to invest in high performance and in importing foreign talent to add to that provided by former Chinese players such as Ze Zhang and Mao-Xin Gong .
Among them, the Spaniard Juan Manuel Esparcia, who coached the Beijing team from 2014 to 2016. “Over the years, Chinese tennis has developed enormously in all areas of high-performance tennis, from coaches to physical trainers. and physiotherapists,” he told atptour.com.
García declares: “China, in general, is a country that is guided by economics. The parents of the players of this generation saw that tennis generated a lot of money.” Hence the investment. “Now we continue to invest in it, progress has been made in local circuits, for example. I think there is going to be a boom from here too.” Now, Chinese men’s tennis has another boost: that of male references. “The difference between the girls and the boys is that they had Li Na (former world number two). The men did not have much support,” García believes.
Preference for the fast track
All of them stand out for having a characteristic style of play: “They are fast court players with very direct hits.” Nahúm García adds: “In China there are no dirt tracks and they train, above all, indoors due to the low temperatures, which is why adapting to dirt is complicated for them.”
The first pearl to emerge from this momentum that drew powerful attention was Wu (Hangzhou, 24 years old), who became the first winner of an ATP tournament in the Open Era (since 1968), when he lifted the trophy last season in Dallas . He had been junior number one and entered the Top-60. He had previously reached the third round at the US Open, but last September he had some heart problems that made him stop. Before working with the Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and the South African Wayne Ferreira, Wu was in Madrid, with the Spanish Nahúm García.
Zhang (Shanghai, 27 years old) took the revelation and has placed very close to the Top-50. A few days ago, in the United Cup, he beat the Czech Lehecka. And last year he made the quarterfinals in Madrid and the semifinals in Hamburg. He prepares the Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu for her. “I’m happy to be able to catch them (the Chinese tennis players). Although I am far away, I still tried to do it, which is quite difficult, there is a long way to go. Zheng is in front of me,” Zhang warns.
Following them now comes Shang (Beijing, 18 years old), nicknamed Jerry, who has just been a semi-finalist in Hong Kong. He is trained by the Argentine Martín Alund. “Shang is very young, he is evolving a lot,” says García of the new figure of Chinese tennis, who will face Alcaraz at 03:45 in the morning from Friday to Saturday.
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2024-01-19 19:15:42
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