The Paper's reporter Pu Yaolei
Compared with the many Chinese women's tennis golden flowers that have shined in the international arena, Chinese men's tennis does not have so many brilliant achievements. But now, Zhang Zhizhen is eye-catching.
In the third round of the Wimbledon qualifiers on June 24, Zhang Zhizhen defeated the world's 117th-ranked qualifier No. 4 seeded Cyrendoro to obtain a ticket to the Wimbledon main tournament, becoming the only male Chinese mainland at Wimbledon.
Zhang Zhizhen's eyes were resolute.
This is not only Zhang Zhizhen's first personal grand slam main tournament trip, but also created a new history of Chinese tennis - since the Open era, Wimbledon finally saw the figure of Chinese mainland male players.
Two years ago, the 25-year-old player created the world's highest ranking of the Chinese mainland men's tennis players, can he now go one step further and become the first person to reach the second round of a Grand Slam?
Zhang Zhizhen in the game.
63 years of waiting
In the third round of the Wimbledon qualifier, Zhang Zhizhen, who is ranked 178th in the world, broke out a small unpopularity, cutting off the world's 117th-ranked qualifier Fourth Seed Cyrendo in four sets, and also "sending eggs" to the opponent in the first set 6-0.
With Zhang Zhizhen getting this precious ticket to the main competition, the Wimbledon men's field finally has the figure of Chinese mainland player.
Looking back at history, Zhang Zhizhen was the first Chinese mainland player to participate in the Wimbledon men's singles tournament in the Open era. The last time a mainland player appeared here was before the Open era, in 1958, the Chinese tennis star MeiFuji received a wild card from Wimbledon, becoming the first Chinese male player to qualify for the Wimbledon main tournament.
In 1958 and 1959, Mefoky competed at Wimbledon for two consecutive years, twice reaching the second round of the men's singles, creating a milestone in the history of Men's Tennis in China. Unfortunately, now that more than 60 years have passed, the male players have not yet been able to surpass the results of their predecessors.
Image source: Shanghai Rolex Masters
Interestingly, like Mei Fuji, who made history in those years, Zhang Zhizhen, who is now making history, is also an athlete from Shanghai. Pursuing the figure of his predecessors, whether Zhang Zhizhen can replicate the glory created by his predecessors in the Open Era this time will attract the attention of the entire Chinese tennis community.
At the same time, the new generation of forces striving to create a new era is not only Zhang Zhizhen.
At this year's French Open, the 16-year-old Chinese youngster Shang Juncheng reached the quarterfinals in the junior men's singles competition, winning the attention and expectations of the outside world.
The rising star comes from a sports family – his father is the football star Shang Yi, and his mother is wu Na, the world champion of table tennis.
Zhang Zhizhen, a young man who loves to laugh.
After the famous general, carry hope
For Zhang Zhizhen, it is a surprise to climb the Wimbledon main competition, after all, the 25-year-old has not yet established a foothold in the ATP Tour.
From 2012 to the present, even with the addition of qualifications, Zhang Zhizhen has not participated in more than 20 ATP tours, including many times relying on wild cards to participate in domestic tours.
Many times, he can only hone himself in the lower-level challenge arenas – but so far, Zhang Zhizhen has won the challenge championship twice. He also reached the final four at a challenge in Biella, Italy, in May.
Zhang Zhizhen trained with Federer in Shanghai.
In fact, several years ago, the young Zhang Zhizhen was regarded as one of the next generation hopes of Chinese men's tennis.
He also comes from a sports family, his father Zhang Weihua is a famous defender in Shanghai football, and his mother was a former shooter. In addition to enough sports genes, the figure of 1.92 meters also makes the outside world full of expectations for him.
As early as 2015, Zhang Zhizhen, who was only 19 years old at the time, participated in the SHENZHEN leg of the ATP Tour and won the first victory on the tour. In 2017, also in Shenzhen, he reached the quarter-finals of the tournament, creating his career best record on the tour, and also equaling the best record of the mainland male players on the tour.
In November 2019, Zhang Zhizhen surpassed Wu Di's highest ranking of 140 in 2016 and set a new record for the highest men's singles ranking for Chinese mainland players.
Represented China to break into the TOP100
In the entire history of the Chinese men's tennis, the most prominent performance is Lu Yanxun, a Chinese Taipei player. He defeated American Roddick at Wimbledon in 2010 to advance to the quarterfinals, becoming the first Asian player to reach the men's singles quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament since Japan's Shuzo Matsuoka in 1995, and reaching a high of 33 in the world ranking.
But Chinese mainland men's tennis has not yet had such a brilliant record. Before Zhang Zhizhen, only three mainland male players in the Open Era, Wu Di, Zhang Xuan and Li Zhe, had ever appeared on the men's singles field of the Grand Slam main tournament.
But so far, no one has been able to pass the first round...
Zhang Zhizhen's impact on the Grand Slam main tournament is not long, and the 2020 Australian Open is his first grand slam qualifier. Subsequently, he played the second round of the qualifying round twice at this year's Australian Open and the French Open, regretting that he could not get tickets to the main tournament.
But now, he has achieved satisfactory results on his fourth Grand Slam qualifying trip. Last year, Zhang Zhizhen once came to the 136th place of his career's highest ranking, and through the performance of this year's Wimbledon, he is expected to go further and continue to refresh the highest ranking of his own and Chinese mainland men's tennis.
Of course, as a qualifier, Zhang Zhizhen can hardly expect to have a good place in the draw, but no matter what opponent he faces, the experience of the Grand Slam arena will be a valuable experience on his way to growth.
Zhang Zhizhen also revealed in an interview that his current "small goal" is to reach the top 100 in the world rankings, and then to attack higher - "the top 100 is just the starting point of professional tennis".
And this Wimbledon ticket may be the beginning of a new stage in his career.
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Yan Zhang