The world watched Chinese tennis players Li Ting and Sun Tiantian
win again and again, against highly seeded players and go on to
take the gold in the women's doubles at the Athens Olympics.
Increasingly, people have been wondering how China managed such a
rapid rise in a sport that had not been considered one of its
traditional strengths.
What led to the success?
First of all, China recognized the need to look overseas to
develop the sport:
"Tennis is different from many other sports, because you cannot
make any progress without heavy investment," said Sun Jinfang. This
tennis coach certainly hit the nail on the head.
When she took office as the director of the Chinese Tennis
Association (CTA) she devoted herself to developing professionalism
in tennis in a country where table tennis and badminton were still
the major attractions.
During the two years following her appointment, Chinese players
were to benefit greatly from frequent participation in overseas
tournaments and professional competitions. This was a time when
China invested no less than 6 million yuan or US$725,000 in sending
its women tennis players to compete abroad. Spending in developing
men's tennis took the total to over US$1,200,000.
The investment paid off in a big way at the Athens Olympics.
Secondly, scientific methods were applied to training and
competition preparation:
With funding and other operational difficulties now overcome,
the players and their coaches were free to concentrate fully on
match preparation. They attached great importance to stamina
training and to developing technical expertise and speed in such
areas as the serve and the return of serve. Training included
plenty simulated and actual competition experience. The players set
out to accumulate points first in the lower-level tournaments to
prepare themselves for the more demanding competitions to follow.
In the first half of last year, the Chinese players took part first
in the easier International Tennis Federation (ITF) competitions.
Six months later, they were ready to take part in the World Tennis
Association (WTA) and other top tournaments.
Thirdly, new opportunities were created for players to develop
their skills through competing in home-based tournaments:
Sending athletes abroad for high-level competitions may be the
number one choice but when funds are limited, this is not always
possible. Recognizing this, the CTA took the initiative and
succeeded in increasing what had been 10 home-based competitions in
2001, to as many as 19 in 2004. The prize-money also soared from
US$1,200 to over US$70,000.
A time to be realistic
Li Ting and Sun Tiantian have earned a place for themselves in
Chinese tennis history and in the hearts and minds of the Chinese
people. However, their victory needs to be viewed in perspective
with the recognition that much still remains to be done. Olympic
tennis cannot be lumped together with Wimbledon and the other major
top-level tournaments. What's more, a single medal is not enough to
prove there has been a qualitative breakthrough in the game in
China.
For one thing, since tennis became an Olympic Sport in 1988,
many world-class professionals have shown a distinct lack of
interest in competing in the Olympics. Serena Williams, Jennifer
Capriati, Guillermo Coria, Gaston Gaudio and many of the world's
other top names were just not there at the Athens Games. In
addition, many think that the early elimination of Venus Williams
and other top seeds was instrumental in the Chinese players'
victory.
Then there is the special requirement for an Olympic doubles
pair to comprise two players from the same country. Top
professional tennis doubles are often made up of players from
different countries. At Athens, many had to play temporarily with
an unfamiliar partner. This lack of co-ordination made it easier
for the Chinese players to achieve a surprise win for they had
trained all along as a pair.
The gold medal has come more as a temporary boost than proof of
a new era in China's tennis.
As Li Ting said, "Winning the number one position in this
tournament does not mean we are number one in the world. We are
realistic about the actual position of China's tennis. Our win
today does not mean China has become a major force in tennis."
Looking to the future
Then just what does the Olympic gold medal mean for China?
"It can spark a new interest in tennis among the Chinese
people," explained Yu Liqiao, the gold medal winners' coach.
As Yu correctly anticipated, China is already seeing an
unprecedented popular enthusiasm for the sport.
"Since China's Li and Sun won the doubles gold, the tickets for
the China Open 2004 Tennis Championship are going very quickly,"
said Jonathan Krane, president of ticketing agents, Emma
Ticket.
This star-studded tournament bringing together the ATP and WTA
is scheduled for September 10-26 in Beijing. It has become a hot
topic among the local citizens. According to Krane, the current
best sellers are the VIP tickets at US$1,570, followed by tickets
for the full-tournament at US$1,328, the semi-finals at US$82 and
the final at US$155.
The booming middle class that is now so much a feature of many
of China's big cities will make for an increasingly mature tennis
market. However as Xia Jiaping, former world university games
champion says, "This fashionable tennis is not the same as the
competitive game. Professional tennis players hope the gold medal
will lead to some fundamental developments in tennis training and
competitions in China."
Xia believes that the surprise Olympic gold victory will draw
the attention of the nation's top leaders to the development of the
game with more funds being invested and a much-improved environment
for training aspiring youngsters.
Sun Jinfang has revealed that in the near future the CTA will
pay millions of yuan to bring in foreign coaches to help train
China's teenage players. They will also provide fresh opportunities
for promising young coaches over here to learn advanced
international methods as the key to addressing the main weaknesses
remaining in this attractive sport.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, September 10, 2004)