Newly-crowned Wimbledon doubles' champions Zheng Jie and Yan Zi
believe success at the All-England Club will raise confidence for
their bid for glory at the Beijing Olympics.
"The victory on the grass gave me great confidence and it will
help us and the team shift up a gear before Beijing 2008," said
Zheng. "We have been through a lot of hard moments over the past
two weeks, so now we've become stronger mentally and
technically."
The duo, both from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, returned to
Beijing yesterday afternoon to a warm welcome from the Chinese
Tennis Association (CTA) and waiting media.
"We learned a lot from the Wimbledon trip," said Yan. "We had
very limited time to get used to the tricky grass court, so to be
frank, I didn't expect such a great result.
"I am getting more confident about the coming hard-court season
and the Olympic Games. We displayed very good tennis on a surface
we really dislike."
The pair was playing in just their second Wimbledon Open this
year, after they were ousted in the second round in their first
attempt in 2004.
They beat Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
in the women's doubles final on Sunday afternoon UK time.
The trophy has elevated Zheng and Yan to No 3 and No 4
respectively in the WTA doubles rankings and earned them a berth in
the year's eight-pair finale in Madrid, Spain, in November.
As well as rankings points, Sichuan province is set to reward
them for their efforts. Sichuan Sports Academy has promised a
200,000 RMB yuan (US$25,000) bonus each and Chengdu Municipal
Government will also provide prize money of the same amount.
Sun Jinfang, director of CTA, said the Wimbledon title is a
springboard for the whole nation.
"This is a long-awaited success for all of us," she said. "But
it's also just a step on the road to our final target - the Beijing
Olympics.
"Now, the breakthrough is there and we need to keep the momentum
to become a steady force in the world. I am looking forward to
seeing more Chinese players like them emerging on the tour."
Zheng and Yan became the first Chinese Grand Slam winners at the
Australian Open women's doubles' event this year and made the
semi-finals at the French Open in May.
The national team starts training today for the Fed Cup World
Group Play-offs against Germany this weekend in Beijing. A win will
lift China to the eight-team world group in 2007.
(China Daily July 12, 2006)