Building on net gains as relentless efforts finally paid off

After trying to crack the top of the men's game for years, Chinese tennis has finally savored success with homegrown stars making major headlines for a fruitful season in 2022.

Defined by achievements on the women's circuit for more than a decade, Chinese tennis had its long-awaited dream of men's rise come true big time last year following Zhang Zhizhen's top-100 breakthrough and former US Open boys' champion Wu Yibing's revival on the major stage.

Zhang, a 26-year-old Shanghai native, etched his name into tennis history in October after he became the first male Chinese mainland player to reach the top 100 on the ATP world rankings following a quarterfinal run at an ATP 250 tournament in Italy.

With four solid wins, including two in the qualifying rounds, Zhang stormed into the last eight in Naples to earn his second career quarterfinal appearance at an ATP Tour-level event since his first in 2017 and rose to No 97 in the official rankings on Oct 24.

Zhang's top-100 breakthrough garnered resounding praise back home, with the Chinese Tennis Association hailing it as the "realization of a long-cherished dream".

"To reach the top 100 in men's professional tennis has been a target of Chinese players for generations," the CTA said in a congratulatory letter.

"Today, all the sweat and pain through the decades paid off after you helped Chinese tennis reach a new milestone.

"For sure, it will inspire an entire generation to march forward and embrace new challenges with confidence, discipline and resilience."

Ranked No 321 at the beginning of 2022, Zhang credited increasing competition from his peers and his own renewed commitment to the game for his surge.

"It cannot be done by just one player or one generation. It's the result of accumulated efforts after trying for decades," said Zhang, who made his professional debut in 2012.

"Now is a great moment for Chinese men's tennis with several of us all competing in a healthy environment. We chase one after another on the court while staying quite close and motivating each other off the court," Zhang said of the collective progress of Chinese men, including 116th-ranked Wu Yibing and teen star Shang Juncheng, this season.

Considered the future of Chinese men's tennis after winning the US Open boys' title in 2017, Wu has taken five years to live up to the expectations generated by that junior success after he reached the last 32 at the US Open in September to become the first Chinese mainland man to go that far in New York.

It took former world No 1 Daniil Medvedev to stop Wu's 15-match winning streak in the third round at Flushing Meadows, yet the sparkling 40-7 win-loss record of the 23-year-old in 2022 and three consecutive titles won on the Challenger circuit for sure had offered him plenty to cheer about, given how far he's come.

Hampered by several injuries to his elbow, lower back and shoulder, Wu missed almost three years of competing on the ATP tour since early 2019 and only came back at the beginning of last year when he was far down the rankings.

Nominated for ATP Comeback Player of the Year last month, Wu was awarded a wild card on Jan 5 to enter the main draw at the 2023 Australian Open, joining Zhang, who qualified directly via rankings, to form a Chinese duo in a major tournament's singles main draw for only the second time after they did so at the US Open last year.

Hot on their heels is teenager Shang, who reached career-high ranking of No 184 in early November thanks to back-to-back final runs on the Challenger series prior to the US Open.

Shang, who turns 18 next month, also made history on his part in 2022 as he became the first and youngest Chinese man to appear in the main draw of an ATP Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells, California in March, following two qualifying wins.

The rise of the younger generation, facilitated by more professional training and greater international exposure, has garnered praise from their predecessors.

Wu Di was the first Chinese man to play a main-draw match at the Australian Open in 2013 and three years later was the first male Chinese mainland player to lift a Challenger singles trophy.

"In the past few years, Chinese men's tennis has been a bit silent, but this year the younger generation's performance gave all of us a big surprise especially at the US Open," said Wu Di.