A simple text message confirmed to Zheng Jie's mother that her
daughter had won her second grand slam title of the year, and a
first for China at the Wimbledon championships.
"Ha ha, champions again," read the SMS message Zheng sent after
she and compatriot Yan Zi had beaten Virginia Ruano Pascual and
Paola Suarez 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to win the women's doubles final in the
early hours of Monday morning local time.
Zheng and Yan, who both come from Chengdu in Sichuan Province,
paired up to win China's first grand slam title at the Australian
Open in January.
Yan's family stayed up into the early hours to watch the final
and her father - a football World Cup fan like hundreds of millions
of Chinese - missed Italy's victory in Germany to support his
daughter.
"When we saw they didn't win until the seventh match point,"
Yan's mother told the Chengdu Economic Daily, "my heart
was in my mouth."
The pair's victory in the final match of the fortnight on Centre
Court capped China's best ever Wimbledon, with Li Na's singles
seeding and run to the quarter-finals both also firsts for the
country.
Li was beaten in the last eight by Kim Clijsters but still rose
from 30th to a Chinese record 22nd in the world rankings on Monday,
a spot above five-times grand slam winner Venus Williams.
Belgian Clijsters also ended Zheng's singles campaign in the
third round at Wimbledon but the 23-year-old Chinese still moved up
to a career-high 34th in the rankings.
Zheng and Yan were also rewarded with their best doubles ranking
of third and fourth in the world.
According to the method of calculation used by some Chinese, a
child is one year old at birth. Zheng's family therefore celebrated
her July 5 birthday as her 24th, a special anniversary in
China.
"I'll prepare her some birthday presents for luck, hoping she
and Yan Zi continue doing well in the grand slams, especially to
win the upcoming US Open," her mother said.
The US Open starts August 28.
(China Daily July 11, 2006)