Every step of their day is creating the history of Chinese tennis

Guangming Daily reporter Wang Dong

The U.S. Open was founded in 1881 and officially listed as one of the four major Open tournaments in 1968, but it has never attracted the attention of the Chinese people as this year — Chinese players are creating the history of Chinese tennis at every step of the US Open.

The younger generation is on the rise

On August 27, in the third round of the US Open qualifiers, Chinese men's tennis ushered in a historic moment: Wu Yixun, ranked 178th in the world, defeated muteit, ranked 112th in the world, 2-0, becoming the first Chinese mainland player to break into the men's singles tournament of the US Open; Zhang Zhizhen, who then appeared, defeated Belhez 6-2, 6-4 to advance after the test of the interruption of the game. At this time, Zhang Zhizhen ranked 138th in the world, close to the record of the highest ranking in the world of Chinese mainland men's singles world ranking of 136. Two Chinese male players were shortlisted for the US Open, which means that after the 2014 Australian Open, Chinese mainland, two male players have appeared in the main stage of the four Major Slam tournaments.

So far, a total of 3 of the five Chinese players participating in the US Open qualification tournament have successfully broken through, namely Zhang Zhizhen, Wu Yiyu and women's singles player Yuan Yue. Previously, relying on the world ranking, 4 female players such as Zhang Shuai, Zheng Qinwen, Wang Xinyu and Wang Xiyu have directly qualified for the main competition.

On August 29, the 2022 US Open main tournament began. In the first round of matches, Wu Yiyu played against georgian Bahirashvili, ranked 35th in the world, and won in three straight sets, becoming the first male player to win a Grand Slam singles main tournament since the world's professional tennis entered Chinese mainland the Open era. In the women's singles, Zheng Qinwen successfully advanced against former French Open champion and No. 16 seed Ostapenko; Veteran Zhang Shuai played steadily, defeating the No. 30 seed and Swiss player Teichmann; The 21-year-old Wang Xiyu reversed his victory over France's Diane Parry to win the first US Open tournament; Yuan Yue dropped two straight sets and swept Australian wild card frith.

In addition to the above 5 people in the first round of the men's and women's singles, 4 Chinese players in the doubles field played and 3 people advanced, namely Xu Yipan/Yang Zhaoxuan and Zhang Shuai, who partnered with foreign players. It is worth mentioning that these Chinese players have all made new breakthroughs in their careers. The result of 5 players advancing to the second round of Grand Slam singles also created the history of Chinese tennis.

On August 31, in the second round of the women's singles, 21-year-old Wang Xiyu defeated world number three Greece's Sakkari to reach the round of 32 of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. The veteran Zhang Shuai, who then appeared, eliminated Slovakia's Slovak Smitrova 7-5, 6-1, and advanced to the third round of the US Open for the fourth time in his career. Zheng Qinwen defeated Russia's Anastasia Potapova 7-6, 4-7, 6-3 to advance to the round of 32.

For the overall performance of the Chinese team in the US Open, Wang Xiyu sighed: "Everyone has played so well, and they have great confidence in the future of Chinese tennis, which is also a good encouragement for me." Zhang Shuai was also sincerely happy about the breakthrough of the Chinese Legion: "Seeing that the young generation is rising, and everyone's efforts have achieved good results, I think all the efforts are worth it." ”

Harvest breakthroughs are still glorious

On September 3, local time, the US Open entered its sixth match day, and Serena Williams, the 23-seat Grand Slam women's singles winner and 6-time US Open women's singles champion, announced the end of his professional tennis career after ending his 21st US Open trip.

Compared with the "earthquake" of the world tennis world caused by Serena Williams' announcement of retirement, the performance of Chinese players in the third round of the US Open has made Chinese fans more concerned, especially Wu Yixun's challenge to Medvedev, the world's number one, which has attracted the attention of countless Chinese people.

After three fierce sets of fierce fighting, Wu Yiyu finally lost to his opponent with a large score of 0-3, regrettably stopping the men's singles round of 32. Although he failed to go any further, for Wu Yiyu, his trip to the US Open is completely defeated: it is of great significance to meet and fight with the world's number one player, because from the past competition, it is almost difficult for Chinese men's tennis players to reach the top ten in the world. This time, Wu Yiyu not only created the history of Chinese men's tennis with his own efforts, but also won the praise and respect of Medvedev, whose performance set an example for future generations.

After the breakthrough, Wu Yiyu said that he was "very happy to be the one who made history", but at the same time he did not forget to look to the future: "More importantly, we must bring confidence to Chinese fans and children, and we will have more good players in the future." As he has said before: "I want to take a long-term view, not to say that I will complete the task after winning a round, because our ultimate goal is not just to get into the top 100, or to win a grand slam." ”

In the women's singles field, Zhang Shuai played a "shockwave" of winning 7 consecutive sets, and finally defeated Canada's Rebecca Marino in two straight sets 6-2, 6-4, achieving a breakthrough in her 10th US Open main tournament trip, reaching the women's singles round of 16 for the first time, becoming the second Chinese player after Li Na to break into at least the round of 16 in the four Grand Slam singles venues.

The Chinese Legion is worth looking forward to

In this year's US Open, compared with the surprise brought by the successful entry of five Chinese mainland players into the second round of men's and women's singles, what makes people happier is the youth and potential of the Chinese tennis team through the competition: in addition to the 33-year-old Zhang Shuai, Wu Yiyu (October 1999), Wang Xiyu (March 2001), Zheng Qinwen (October 2002), Yuan Yue (September 1998) are all new generation of young players, who have also won the first victory of the US Open in their careers, and their world rankings will also be greatly improved.

"The same Chinese, and I am very happy to see the breakthrough of the Chinese men's tennis." For the young Chinese legion he was in, Yuan Yue commented, "In the case of the women's network, Zheng Qinwen and Wang Xiyu are better players than me. Their grades have always been better than mine, and they are younger than me, and there is a lot to learn from me. Wu Yiyu's outlook for the future is even more ambitious, "No one in the Chinese men's network has hit the top ten or the top twenty, there is no such example." When no one has opened the way for us, try to get out of it yourself. He said.

Another Chinese teenager, Wang Xiyu, is also gratifying, reaching the third round of women's singles after eliminating world number three and last year's final four player Sakkari. Four years ago, Wang Xiyu won the women's singles championship in the junior group at the US Open, and since then she has appeared in the Grand Slam women's singles tournament four times, the best result is the second round of this year's Australian Open, and now at the age of 21, she has achieved her first career grand slam third round and defeated the world's top ten for the first time.

Not only young people, veteran Zhang Shuai also inspires his little teammates with practical actions. "No matter who it is, I will do my best to play my best." In her opinion, the rise of many young Chinese players is also inspiring herself, "I am glad that I am no longer 'lonely'." Hopefully, more Chinese players will win more Grand Slam titles. ”

The journey of Chinese tennis will not stop here.

Guangming Daily ( 2022-09-05 09 edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily