By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE, Jan 28 - China's hopes of a first grand
slam finalist were crushed by two of the greats of the women's
game on Thursday but Li Na and Zheng Jie's brilliant Australian
Open run marked another step in the country's inevitable rise.
Dubbed China's "Golden Flowers" by an appreciative media at
home, Li and Zheng's record-shattering path to the semi-finals
at Melbourne Park ignited the draw and offered the astonishing
possibility of an all-Chinese final.
That notion was snuffed out when a rampant Justine Henin
thumped 35th-ranked Zheng 6-1 6-0 following Serena Williams's
7-6 7-6 win over the 16th-seeded Li.
But like Russia's rapid rise to tennis super-power status in
the last 10 years, the world will need to get used to seeing
more Chinese names at the business end of grand slams.
As with all sports, tennis was once denounced as bourgeois
and decadent, and banned in China under the rule of the late Mao
Zedong, but the game has come along way in a very short time.
Olympic ambitions have played a big part, with the Communist
Party leadership throwing resources, cash and foreign coaches
into the game to produce players who can bolster medal counts.
The country's Soviet-style sports system produced a shock
gold in Athens in 2004, when Sun Tiantian and Li Ting took the
women's doubles title, the same year Li broke through for
China's first tour win in the southern city of Guangzhou.
Zheng, who has vied with Li for the number one status in
China in recent years, then partnered Yan Zi to clinch the
country's first doubles grand slam titles at the Australian Open
and Wimbledon in 2006.
Li's breakthrough quarter-final at Wimbledon the same year,
followed by Zheng's semi-final there in 2008, continued China's
steady march.
MIDDLE AGE
While well into middle-age by tennis standards, 27-year-old
Li and 26-year-old Zheng are now playing the best tennis of
their lives, surprising themselves with their own progress.
"My goal was to make the top 10 this year, but I've already
done that," said Li, whose quarter-final win over Venus Williams
ensured she will pass the milestone when the new rankings are
published on Monday.
"So next, maybe (go for the) top five, like step by step."
Zheng, whose ranking peaked at 15 last year, will also break
back into the top 20, after injuries and indifferent results at
the grand slams last year sent it dipping to the 30s.
The two players form the vanguard of China's push into the
top ranks of world tennis and along with Yan and 43rd-ranked
Peng Shuai, have been rewarded with freedoms rarely granted at
home, where top athletes remain yoked to the state sport system.
After increasing friction between players and officials over
training arrangements and pay, the Chinese Tennis Association
allowed the four to "fly away" and organise their own coaches,
tours and scheduling.
The decision, while criticised by more conservative
officials in China, has been validated with Li and Zheng's
success at Melbourne Park.
Both players have said they have benefited from the freedom
to train and rest at will, and from more specialist coaching
available to them. They have also vowed to learn from their
semi-final lessons and believe they have room for improvement.
"It wasn't just that I made the last four. It's because the
things I've done in training really came out here so it's been a
good harvest," said Zheng, a feisty counter-puncher who has
hired American coach Nick Bollettieri to improve her serve.
Li, a hard-hitter with all the tools to succeed in the
power-dominated modern game, has hired Swede Thomas Hogstedt and
has shown a tougher mental edge after previously appearing
brittle under pressure.
While not a single Chinese man appeared in the draw at
Melbourne Park, junior champions are being groomed and a
breakthrough tour win from the other sex may only be "three to
five years away", Hogstedt told local media.
Li and Zheng's performance at Melbourne Park should inspire
more young Chinese to pick up rackets but has also, Zheng
conceded, put more pressure on them to keep the good times
rolling.
"I wouldn't say I like (that kind of pressure), but I think
I can do my best to adapt to it," she said.
"I hope more people can watch tennis and get involved, but
of course this will require more good results."
(Editing by Sonia Oxley; To query or comment on this story
email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)