Made in China

A new week begins, and we have the opportunity of giving a special mention to the historical landmark that has been obtained by the Chinese girls of the tour, with the harvest coming this week in Estoril, a truly enviable result for any sporting nation. We found it impossible to choose any one person as our 'Player of the Week' as all of the Chinese girls performed so well during these last seven days, to choose just one who be an insult to their compatriots, who all played with such talent and determination. When we speak of China and tennis in the open era, the first memory that springs to mind goes back to Roland Garros 1989 - and to a young American/Chinese player, Michael Chang, who went on to leave his eternal mark of the red clay of Paris. His battle was epic with the then world number one, Ivan Lendl, to whom he defeated after 4 hours in the 4th round - leaving everyone overwhelmed. Finally, Michael Chang would take that Grand Slam title after defeating Stenfan Edberg in the final, the main news at the time was not only the fact of his Chinese origins, but also his age at the time - 17 years and 3 months.

A regular in the top ten of the ATP over several years, Chang amongst many other accolades, also obtained a career high ranking of number two in the world. His 1989 speech still resonate within the Parisian walls of Roland Garros, 'God bless to all and in special the town of China"; stands out because of it's mixture of genuine gratitude and a more personal element.

The figure of Michael Chang is key in all this analysis, he is a goodwill ambassador for Chinese sport, his influence was the motivating factor that has sparked this new tennis revolution in China. Michael Chang, without a doubt has been a contributing factor in the Olympic movements choice to hold the next Olympic Games in the great city of Beijing. Chang with the spirit that characterised him as a professional player, never wavered in this persistence to introduce and makethe game popular in the country of his parents. Nevertheless, the work ahead was hard, partly by the lack of experience of the Chinese coaching technicians and by the lack of tennis facilities that existed at the time. Today China is a very different place - it's name is synonymous with modernity; modern cities, tennis facilities that are cutting edge and growing at a rapid rate. The Chinese know that to cultivate the elite players of the sport greatly depends on the technical structure of excellence and a national pride that is a strong motivating factor. (something which is sadly missing from other countries, the UK being one) Nowadays, approximately a million Chinese play tennis as their chosen recreational activity and all you have to do is look at Internet sites such as ebay to realise that China is now one of the biggest suppliers and manufacturers of tennis rackets in the world today (if you look carefully, you will probably even see a sticker on the handle of your racket saying "Made in China")

Even so, at this present time tennis, in relative terms is still a less popular racket sport compared to others such as table tennis or badminton in China, but it's still becoming a sport with a high degree of growth and popularity. The secret to these last successes of Chinese tennis, probably are due to the approach that is taken by the Chinese Tennis Federation along with the international Tennis Federation, is raising and carrying out. They are convinced that constructing one organised structure in which the knowledge and the experience flow from one player to the next, generating success on a multiple level. The basic objective consists of formal training from the first stages so as to initiate them with a good grounding, and to form not only new tennis players, but also to make new trainers from the first levels who give continuity to the process; in addition, the players are also fully accompanied and supported by their trainers at all tournaments and with as much attention on WTA, not just on ATP (as many other countries) They are given financial and logistic support so that the promising tennis players can tour in America and Europe with the best possible conditions, all this within the framework and knowledge that they will be hosting the future Olympic games of the 2008.

The statistical data for this special country and it's association with women's tennis is outstanding; Jie Zheng, that has been the first Chinese player to reach R16 of a Grand Slam, she was also the second Chinese player to win a WTA title in Hobart (2005), the first Chinese tennis player to win an official WTA title was Na Li in 2004 at Guangzhou. In Estoril, Zheng has gained his second official WTA title,defeating her compatriot Na Li, the first all-Chinese final in WTA history. The Estoril final was the fifth time on the tour that two players of this nationality reached the singles semifinals, but never before have they meet in a WTA final. In addition, the Estoril double title was also taken by a Chinese pair, Ting Li and Tiantian Sun (a regain of their title from last year) it is their second doubles title of the season, the other being won in Pattaya - in addition, it is the eighth title obtained by this pairing on WTA tour. The same partnership also won gold at the Athens Olympic Games defeating none other than Virginia Ruano Pascual and Conchita Martinez, gaining China's first Olympic gold for tennis. China is now the third most successful country on the women's tour behind Russia, with it's champions Maria Sharapova winning in Indian Wells over Elena Dementieva, and Svetlana Kuznetsova winning in Miami over Sharapova, and France thus, with Amélie Mauresmo prevailing in Paris over her compatriot Mary Pierce. We hope that the successes continue for this country and for it's tennis players.