CHINA: TENNIS: China's female tennis players bask in glory after a breakthrough year

China experienced historic progress in women's tennis this year after their players emerged as finalists and winners in major international competitions . Li Na, China's first singles player in a grand slam draw, blasted China to a milestone on their march to power status in women's tennis when she secured her country a place in the Fed Cup elite for the first time on July China, who eventually took the tie by a 4-1 margin, will now play in the eight-team World Group in 2007. The victory was another first in a breakthrough year in which Li Na became the first Chinese player to reach the singles quarter-finals at a grand slam after she notched up a notable triumph for the rising tennis nation at Wimbledon. Li Na was seeded 27th for the Wimbledon championships on the back of her WTA ranking of 30th, a record high for a Chinese singles player. Li Na's progress was all the more remarkable given it was her first time playing singles on the Wimbledon grass. The women's tennis doubles crown in Wimbledon was another shocking surprise China had in store for the rest of the sporting world. Zheng Jie and Yan Zi captured China's first Wimbledon title on July 9 after winning the country's first grand slam trophy at the Australian Open in January. Their coach believes these achievements are the result of laborious work and enhanced emphasis on physical strength training. "I think improved physical strength played a significant role in our achievements. We regard improving players' physical strength as an important part of our training program, plus we use the right tactics, so we have reached the world top level now", coach Jiang Hongwei (pron: chiang hung way) said. The pair, who both come from Chengdu in Sichuan province were also rewarded with the best doubles ranking of third and fourth in the world. Their win capped a successful run for the world's most populous nation at the grass court championships. "I think we have done a lot of hard work during the past year. We trained very hard. I am very grateful that our country gives us the opportunity to play. Without it, I believe I cannot march into the top eight ", Wimbledon's quater-finalist, Li Na said. Since Li Ting and Sun Tiantian's victory in the women's doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics, China has made big strides in women's tennis. With all eyes still firmly on success at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese Tennis Assosiation(CTA) are still emphasizing learning rather than winning. Now they have invited several foreign coaches to the team in the hope of bringing some new blood. Theses days China's top players are preparing for the upcoming U.S. Open, which starts on Aug. 28. "We hope we can use the upcoming WTA tournament in Sweden this Thursday as a warm-up opportunity to practice techniques we just learnt from our foreign coaches. I think this is the most important thing. Even if we win again in our old way, we will not achieve much more. Because once our rival players get to know our tricks, we will have nothing left. So we hope we can try some new tactics before the US Open. Even if we might fail, I think we still need to try something new ", Zheng Jie (pron: djcheng chieh) said. The players have benefited from their federation's push to produce world class competitors in time for the 2008 Beijing Games and these achievements proved China could achieve its target of landing an Olympic gold in tennis in two years' time. China first entered the world's premier tennis team event in 1981 and registered their historical first result after a hiatus of 25 years.

ITN Source | August 3, 2006

Tags:. .olympics. .historic. .invited. .techniques. .shocking