China's rising stars serve notice on tennis world

Modern methods

Modern talent development methods are also behind the success of China's top woman Zheng Qinwen, a finalist at this year's Australian Open, and winner of the WTA's Most Improved Player of the Year award in 2023.

Encouraged by her parents, Zheng picked up a tennis racket for the first time at the age of 6 in her home province of Hubei, where Li Na also hails from.

She later moved to Beijing to develop her talent at an academy run by Argentine mentor Carlos Rodriguez, who coached Li to her second major victory in Melbourne in 2014.

Now based in Barcelona and training with Spanish coach Pere Riba, a former ATP world No 65, Zheng has set her sights on diversifying her arsenal beyond her blistering forehand and serve in order to mix it with the world's best.

Since her breakout season in 2022, Zheng has completed one of the fastest ascents of the women's tour rankings. In January, she reached a career high of seven, following her Australian Open heroics, climbing all the way from 125th at the end of 2021.

Despite elimination in the first round at Wimbledon, the 21-year-old aggressive baseliner, represents the future of Chinese women's tennis together with her peers Wang Xinyu and Bai Zhuoxuan, all top-150 players born after 2000.

Their collective strength, and the diversity of their game styles and personalities, have sparked comparisons to the "Golden Flowers" generation of the early 2010s, when Li Na, Zheng Jie and Yan Zi made the nation proud on the pro circuit.

"Obviously, 15 years ago in China, tennis was just beginning," said Zheng Qinwen, winner of two WTA singles titles. "So we didn't have much opportunity to improve our system of coaching," she said.

"Now after 15 years, we know more about the world, we know how everybody is playing, and we try a lot of different coaches to really improve our games. So all of us are starting to have more knowledge about tennis."