When the disastrous earthquake hit China's Sichuan province on May 12 last year, tennis player Zheng Jie, a local, was playing in Italy and feared the worst after losing contact with her family.

Almost a year later, China's current No 1 women's tennis player has the opportunity to re-visit earthquake-stricken areas in her hometown to deliver her love and care to young victims.

Zheng will arrive in Sichuan today for a series of charity activities, visiting primary school of Hongbai Town in Shifang city and donating tennis equipment to students there.

"I will play matches in Europe on May 12 this year, so I will visit the stricken area a few days earlier this time," Zhen said yesterday.

"As a Sichuan native, I'm very happy to contribute to my hometown as much as possible."

Although busy with competition abroad all year, Zheng, China's most successful women's tennis player, has never forgotten those devastated by the temblor back home.

In its aftermath, she immediately donated all her prize money from last year's Wimbledon Open, more than 1 million yuan ($146,334) and visited the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan to help set up a playground for students.

Having reached world No 16 in the updated WTA rankings, Zheng has equaled the highest rank ever achieved by a Chinese player. Compatriot Li Na also ranked 16th in January 2007.

After joining the WTA tour in 2001, Zheng has notched up a number of breakthroughs for China's women's tennis.

At the 2004 French Open, she reached the fourth round to become the first Chinese to reach the last 16 in a Grand Slam tournament.

Teamed up with Yan Zi, Zheng collected six doubles titles in 2006, including two grand slams at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Making a strong comeback from an injury-marred 2007, the 26-year-old reached the semfinals in Wimbledon courtesy of a wildcard, beating top seed Serbian Ana Ivanovic en route.

She was also awarded the 2008 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Comeback Player of the Year award last month, the first WTA award won by Chinese players.

"The experience of injury let me realize that tennis should be my life-time career and I should cherish the time on court, so when I came back to play, I could reach even higher rankings," said Zheng.

"My current goal is to reach the world's top 15."

Her remarkable achievements on and off the court have earned her a new sponsorship in the form of a four-year contract with Anta, one of China's leading sports brands.

After former women's world No 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, Zheng is the second big tennis name the company signed to drive its marketing foray into tennis.

Zheng will also distribute free Anta's children's products to Sichuan kids during her current visit.

Besides doing charity work, Zheng is also busy promoting tennis in China after being appointed ambassador for the Beijing Oriental International Tennis Development, a program aimed at spreading the sport's presence and nurturing future stars.

"It's another kind of challenge to me," smiled Zheng.

"I will think more of how to promote the sport as a different role.

"Tennis in powerhouses like the US and Russia boasts huge popularity. China still has a way to go to catch up. But I'm glad to see people here have made lots of efforts and will continue to develop the sport.

"As long as more kids pick it up, China will always produce big tennis stars."

On the court, she is focused on next weekend's Fed Cup and the French Open next month.

"I'm now focusing on physical strengthening for the matches in the Fed Cup and French Open," said Zheng. "I missed the last round of the Fed Cup due to injury, but will do my best to help China stay in World Group I in the coming competition against Germany."

(China Daily April 14, 2009)