Ten years ago at this time, Li Na lifted the Australian Open trophy and won her second Grand Slam, becoming the first Asian to win the Australian Open in more than 100 years.
At that time, Chinese tennis was thriving, Li Na remained No. 2 in the world for 25 weeks, locked in the world's top 10 at the end of the year for three years, and maintained her position in the top 10 for 205 weeks.
At that time, we not only had Li Na, we also had Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai, they were all Grand Slam top 4 players, Chinese could compete with the world's top players, and the enthusiasm of Chinese fans for tennis was ignited at that time.
On September 19, 2014, Li Na announced her retirement, and the glorious era of Chinese tennis seemed to come to an abrupt end in an instant. Since that year, no Chinese has reached the final four of a Grand Slam.
Decade!
The players of Li Na's era are now almost unplaying. Although there are some new players who are exporting one after another, we are always far from the top in the world, and in ten years, China has not been in the top 10.
Ten years of waiting is long enough, sweeping away the haze shrouded by the epidemic, Chinese tennis has accumulated steadily, and finally blossomed in early 2024.
In the 2024 Australian Open, Zheng Qinwen, who is only 21 years old, has passed six consecutive levels to reach the final, which is the first Grand Slam final of Chinese tennis in ten years, and Zheng Qinwen has locked the world No. 7, which is the first TOP10 of Chinese tennis in ten years.
Some people say that Zheng Qinwen's Australian Open draw this year was pure luck. But this is a Grand Slam, a Grand Slam that every tennis player dreams of, and you can only know by feeling it firsthand, how easy is it in the world?
Success comes from the accumulation of hard work, and Zheng Qinwen's TOP10 is by no means falling from the sky!
It's been ten years, Chinese fans are crying with joy, we finally have a TOP10 again, and it's only 21-year-old TOP10. We can compete with the world's top level.
Chinese tennis is back on top of the world!
We don't have just one Zheng Qinwen, we have 7 golden flowers in the TOP100, and 4 of them are under the age of 23.
We don't only have women's tennis, Zhang Zhizhen locked the TOP50 after the Australian Open, decades of tennis history rewritten, and Chinese men's tennis also stands in the first group.
18-year-old Shang Juncheng locked the new generation to rank first in the world, and Chinese tennis has a brighter future!
TOP10 used to be a towering mountain, after ten years, after climbing over, we finally saw a different scenery.
Chinese tennis fans in this era are undoubtedly happy, and the vivid animation scroll full of beautiful scenery is unfolding little by little!