In many projects with a high degree of professionalism and commercialization, the performance and standards of Chinese male athletes are really difficult to come up with in the world, emphasizing endurance, technology, explosiveness, and personal economic investment in the field of tennis. Over the past few years, the progress of men's tennis has been slow and difficult compared to the development of women's tennis. When it comes to Chinese tennis, everyone will only think of the names of Li Na, Peng Shuai, Zhang Shuai, Wang Qiang, Zheng Jie, etc., which are quite unfamiliar to men's singles celebrities.
If you combine achievements and influence, what are the representative players in the history of Chinese tennis? In this article, the author will take stock of the top 5 list and review the career of the players for your reference. Of course, due to space limitations, if there is any discussion or the choice of lost pearls, you are welcome to leave a message in the comment area to share.
5. Li Zhe
Li Zhe, aged 35, is from Tianjin.
In the past ten years, Li Zhe has always been a player who is more successful in the Chinese men's tennis team, and his personal peak and state have been maintained for a long time, which shows that he is a more disciplined player.
In the course of his career, Li Zhe participated in the four Asian Games in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018, won two silver medals, and is still on the journey to the fifth edition. In terms of world rankings, Li Zhe's best performance was 210, which was reached in 2016. In this year's 14th National Games, Li Zhe was full of momentum, all the way to the final, and finally defeated Zhang Xuan, who was younger and more famous than him, and won the gold medal of the men's singles of the National Games, which was finally an honor for adding weight to his career.
4. Zhang Zhizhen
Zhang Zhizhen, 25, is from Shanghai.
In terms of strength and performance, Zhang Zhizhen is definitely the best in the history of Chinese men's tennis at present. In the past two seasons, Zhang Zhizhen's upward momentum is quite obvious. In 2020, Zhang Zhizhen raised his world ranking to 136th, setting a new record high for China's men's tennis singles players.
This year, Zhang Zhizhen won three consecutive games in the Wimbledon qualifiers, won the main tournament place, and became the fourth Chinese player to enter the Men's Singles Tournament of the Grand Slam in the Open era (after Wu Di, Zhang Xuan and Li Zhe), at the same time, Zhang Zhizhen was the first Chinese player to appear in the Wimbledon Men's Singles Tournament.
In the first round of Wimbledon held at the end of June this year, Zhang Zhizhen played against France's Antoine, and when he took a 2-1 lead, the sky began to rain heavily, which destroyed Zhang Zhizhen's hot hand. After resuming the game, Antoine found his form, the two fought fiercely to 3-2 points, Zhang Zhizhen regrettably lost after a game that took 7 hours before and after and played more than 4 hours, and did not qualify for the second round, only a little bit away from making history.
After being eliminated, Zhang Zhizhen seriously told the media and fans: Wait a minute, I believe this is not my last Grand Slam match! For the future performance of this little brother, please look forward to it.
3. Zhang Xuan
Zhang Xuan, 31, is from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Back in 2012, at the age of 22, Zhang Xuan qualified for the French Open, becoming the second Chinese player to participate in the four Grand Slam qualification tournaments after Pan Bing in the Open era. Subsequently, Zhang Xuan was regarded as a powerful player and a star of hope in the new generation of Chinese men's tennis singles.
A year later, in 2013, Zhang Xuan's world ranking went to 148, setting a new record held by his predecessor Pan Bing for many years. Next, Zhang Xuan continued to break through himself and successfully broke into the Australian Open in 2014. In 2017, Zhang Xuan won the first challenge title of his career, which is also the highest level singles title for Chinese mainland men's tennis player to date.
It can be said that at the career level of the ATP field, Zhang Xuan is a pioneer of Chinese male singles players. It is a relative pity that Zhang Xuan's performance in the Asian Games and the National Games is relatively inferior. In this year's National Games competition, Zhang Xuan lost to Li Zhe in the final, which should be regarded as one of the new regrets of his career. Incidentally, to add lace, Zhang Xuan's wife is former national badminton women's golfer Deng Yuting, I don't know if their children want to engage in the sports industry later, will they give priority to tennis or badminton?
Second, Wu Di
Like Li Na, Wu Di, a 30-year-old male singles player, is also from the famous tennis city of Wuhan.
Since turning professional in 2007, Wu Di has been pinned on high hopes as a rising star to break through the upper limit of China's men's rankings. From the current development point of view, Wu Di has largely cashed in on his talent or his own efforts, and it is impossible to enhance the status of Chinese men in the world by one person or two people, and it is inseparable from the efforts of one generation to two generations in the entire men's tennis project or the closed loop of complete talent training.
Back in 2009, the 18-year-old Wu Di became famous in the 11th National Games and won the men's singles championship. In the 2013 & 2017 National Games, Wu Di won the championship again, completing the feat of three consecutive domestic hegemons. In 2016, Wu Di successfully broke through the Australian Open and won a regular seat; in the same year, Wu Di raised his world ranking to 144, and Chinese male players entered the world's TOP150 ranks for the first time.
1. Pan Bing
In terms of honor and contribution, pan Bing, a 51-year-old former Chinese men's singles tennis player, can be said to be the first person in the history of Chinese men's tennis.
In the history of the National Games, Pan Bing won the seventh and eighth men's singles & men's doubles championships; in the 1990 Asian Games and the 1994 Asian Games tennis competition, Pan Bing achieved a singles gold medal to defend his title, and was a well-deserved Asian brother in the 1990s, galloping in the Asian men's tennis world.
Back at the Asian Games held in Beijing that year, Pan Bing fought south Korean Kim Jae-so for four hours in the final, and finally ended the game with a long round of more than 80 beats and won the championship in china, which was the first most memorable highlight moment for a Chinese men's tennis singles player.
In the WTA career rankings, Pan Bing's highest ranking is the world's 170th, and he has long represented the highest level of Chinese men's singles players and even Asian players. In the history of the development of the Chinese men's tennis, Pan Bing was the first player to participate in the four Grand Slam singles qualification tournaments, which is also a pioneering achievement. Of course, if you broaden to the range of races, and compare pan Bing and Zhang Depei, a Chinese yellow player, with the results, the results are still much worse.
After retiring from the army, Pan Bing from Wuhan returned to Wuhan to teach the provincial team, and later briefly took charge of the national women's tennis team. From 2000 to 2004, Pan Bing once brought Li Na, Li Ting and other golden flowers. It can be said that whether it is the era of players or coaches, this men's singles star has made a lot of contributions to Chinese tennis.