She played for Switzerland
Lulu Sun was born Lulu Radovcic on April 14, 2001, in Te Anau, a town in New Zealand’s Southland region on the South Island. “There are almost more sheep and deer than people,” she said at a press conference. But it was a long time before she represented her native country. After starting to live in Shanghai, China, Sun, whose mother is Chinese (and whose name she took) and father is Croatian, grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, and therefore represented that country during her junior years (world number 13 in February 2018 and quarter-finalist at the Australian Open in 2019).
She opted for the Kiwi country last March, after being thrilled in January by the Auckland public who welcomed her like a local. The New Zealand Federation made her an offer much higher than what the Swiss Federation was granting her, according to Le Temps. This allowed her to secure the services of the Slovak coach Vladimir Platenik, ex-coach of Cibulkova, Kasatkina, Kalinina. She thus divides her time between Slovakia and the United States. “I am really happy to be immersed in so many different cultures and backgrounds.” Sun will compete in the Paris Olympic Games in doubles with world number 3 Erin Routliffe.
She enters the history of New Zealand tennis
By beating Emma Raducanu (6-2, 5-7, 6-2) on Sunday, Lulu Sun became the first New Zealander in the Open era to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon. Outside the Open era, Ruia Morrison reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 1957 and 1959. In a Grand Slam tournament, Judy Chaloner reached the round of 16 at the 1979 Australian Open and Belinda Cordwell did the same at the Australian Open in 1988 and 1989, even reaching the semi-finals. In the men’s tournament, the last New Zealander to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon was Chris Lewis, who was even a finalist in 1983.
She had not won a single Grand Slam match.
Lulu Sun’s journey at Wimbledon is anything but logical. Already because she had to save a match point in the second round of qualifying against the Czech Gabriela Knutson (4-6, 6-4, 7-6 [6]). Although she holds the best ranking of her career, the world number 123 had not yet won a single match in a Grand Slam tournament. She had only played one, this year at the Australian Open: a 6-1, 7-5 defeat against the Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (66th) after coming out of qualifying.
Before this Wimbledon, her victories on the main circuit can be counted on the fingers of one hand: two in Seoul in September 2022, one in Auckland in January and another in Dubai the following month. She already has as many in one tournament. In London, she also offered herself her first top 10, Zheng Qinwen (8th) beaten in three sets (4-6, 6-2, 6-4). In the event of defeat on Thursday, she will find herself around 50th place.
She is very offensive
Grass is her favourite surface, where her game is best expressed. “I watched a lot of Roger Federer matches and also videos of Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova,” she said. In 2022, for her very first Grand Slam, she reached the third round of qualifying. This 1.73 m left-hander plays very offensive tennis and seeks to outpace her opponents, sometimes taking a lot of risks. In her four matches in the main draw, she hit a total of 162 winners, including 52 against Raducanu. And she goes to the net very regularly with great success: 78% of points won against Zheng Qinwen, 85% against Yulia Starodubtseva (23/27), 75% against Zhu Lin (15/20) and 82% against Raducanu (23/28).
She enjoys reading and bungee jumping.
Her French agent Stéphane Gurov describes her as “very atypical.” “She doesn’t necessarily like what shines, she likes the things in life.” A graduate in international relations at the University of Texas, Sun has several passions. Reading, for one: Greek or Roman mythology, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, psychology such as The Art of Grit by Angela Duckworth. She also appreciates the illustrator and comic book artist Kim Jung Gi and the animated film director Hayao Miyazaki.
And not far from her hometown is Queenstown, known as the adventure capital of the world. When she returns home, she goes bungee jumping. She also loves wide open spaces and vast expanses. “She’s very endearing, she’s a very upright girl,” her agent sums up.
