三级aa视频在线观看-三级国产-三级国产精品一区二区-三级国产三级在线-三级国产在线

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Sports
Home / Sports / Tennis

Zhang finds feet again on home turf

Resilient veteran snaps losing streak with three big wins on return to China Open

By SUN XIAOCHEN | China Daily | Updated: 2024-09-30 07:43
Share
Share - WeChat
Zhang Shuai of China celebrates after beating Belgium's Greet Minnen during their China Open third-round match on Sunday in Beijing. Zhang won 6-2, 6-3. [Photo/Xinhua]

"I've failed over and over and over again ... And that is why I succeed."

Michael Jordan's inspiring 1997 TV commercial line has found a perfect embodiment in tennis with Chinese veteran Zhang Shuai's revival, twice from disheartening losing streaks, turning heads across the sport's community.

The 35-year-old stole the show at this year's China Open by snapping a 24-match losing streak, the longest in 52 years in the sport, with three straight wins over the past week at her home WTA1000 tournament, while rejuvenating a storied career that seemed almost done, even to some of her diehard supporters.

Anchoring Zhang's unexpected Beijing upturn was a straight-sets first-round win against 65th-ranked McCartney Kessler of the United States on Wednesday, which ended her grueling victory drought of 24 matches, spanning 603 days since the beginning of last season.

Zhang backed it up on Friday with a second-round upset of No 6 seed and US Open semifinalist Emma Navarro, also in straight sets, on the Lotus Court, lighting up the venue where she claimed her career first WTA win 15 years ago.

Then, on Sunday, she completed a homecoming hat-trick, surging into the round of 16 with a straight-sets win over Belgium's Greet Minnen.

As an unheralded wild card in 2009, Zhang took the tennis world by storm at the age of 20, when in just her second WTA match on the China Open's former central court, she stunned then world No 1 Dinara Safina of Russia, following up her first professional win over retired Czech star Iveta Benesova in her tournament debut.

Now, fighting back to winning ways when people start to write her off, Zhang chooses to laugh it off, instead of hitting back at the doubters.

"Yeah, I like to give everybody a surprise. If I keep winning, everybody will feel like nothing is a surprise," said a smiling Zhang after her win against Navarro.

"When I'm standing on these two beautiful courts, a lot of good memories come flooding back. When I was 20 years old, 15 years ago, I could beat the world No 1 on these courts, why can't I do it once more?

"After 15 years, I have a lot more experience. I've played a lot more matches ... I focus on myself. We train hard every day ... I just keep going for every point, be patient. Yeah, there's a good result coming.

"It's perfect timing. Maybe God has a plan," said the former world No 22, who entered this year's China Open at 595th in the WTA rankings.

Also, as a wild-card entry, and perhaps still an underdog in the draw, Zhang is approaching the prestigious home event with more ease than her younger self, after having experienced a roller coaster career that is defined by tenacity.

In a similarly uncanny pattern, Zhang suffered an eight-year, 14-match first-round losing streak at the Slams, dating back to the 2008 US Open, and was considering retirement ahead of the 2016 Australian Open, where her career took a turnaround.

She broke the Grand Slam spell with a tournament upset of then-world No 2 Simona Halep of Romania, and fought all the way to the quarterfinals in Melbourne, kicking off an upswing that took her to two WTA singles titles (Guangzhou 2017 and Lyon 2022) and two major doubles trophies at the 2019 Australian Open and 2021 US Open (alongside Samantha Stosur).

However, the pandemic derailed Zhang's rise, with the physical and mental toll taken by constant travel without returning home due to COVID-19 restrictions proving too much to handle for Zhang.

And thus began her second long struggle, resulting in a winless skid that lasted over a year and a half.

In the Open era, only one player has lost more than 24 straight matches. That came in the early days of the tour, when Sweden's Madeleine Pegel lost her first 29 matches from 1968 to 1972.

Her first home return in five years at the China Open has given Zhang fresh impetus.

"I think the special thing is, I've not been back to China for any tournament in five years. I always play really well in China, Japan, (South) Korea — the whole Asian season," said Zhang, a native of Tianjin.

"The courts, the weather, the air, everything. I feel so comfortable. I play very naturally. I play Zhang Shuai tennis.

"I don't know how many opportunities I will have to play in the China Open, but 15 years later I'm still here. It's already very good."

As one of the most affable players on the women's circuit, Zhang, who's enjoyed a good reputation in the locker rooms, said the reception she received from her fellow players after her wins last week was warm and inspiring.

"When I got back to the locker room, everybody was jumping," Zhang said on Friday. "'C'mon, Shuai, I'm so happy for you!' They hugged me, even though they had been showering, and were (wearing) nothing, they were coming to congratulate me."

World No 6 and 2023 US Open winner Coco Gauff was doing her pre-tournament interviews when Zhang ended her losing streak on Wednesday, and the American prodigy had nothing but praise for her friend's resilience.

Gauff recalled receiving a pep talk from Zhang last year after losing in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. By then, Zhang was already struggling with her own losing streak, but she still tried to comfort Gauff.

"She said: 'Don't worry Coco. You will win a Grand Slam. I have so much belief in you. I would bet my life on it,'" Gauff told WTA Insider. "And then I won US Open!

"I never told her that, but it stuck with me for a long time, just that she had that belief in me. I think every player on tour likes her, so it's so great to see her win. I love her. She deserves everything."

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn

Most Popular

Highlights

What's Hot
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 黄色片网站视频 | 91仓本c仔约高挑嫩模在线 | 免费看a视频 | 久久一区二区三区免费 | 亚洲欧美日韩在线精品一区二区 | 小明免费视频一区二区 | 成人精品久久 | 京野结衣免费一区二区 | 欧美精品在线观看视频 | 国产精品黄在线观看观看 | 免费一级欧美片在线观免看 | 一级aaa毛片 | 免费视频一区二区三区四区 | 亚洲精品福利一区二区三区 | 青青在线成人免费视频 | 精品一区二区三区五区六区 | 尤物国产在线 | 久久青草91免费观看 | 免费在线观看一级片 | 国产免费看视频 | www91com国产91 | 一区二区三区免费视频 www | 黄黄影院| 欧美成人高清性色生活 | www日韩中文字幕在线看 | 青青青在线日本免费视频 | 欧美在线观看黄色 | 黄色三级a | 狠狠五月天 | 国产精品99久久 | 青青久在线视频免费观看 | 亚洲视频999 | 激情视频网站在线观看 | 色天天综合网色鬼综合 | 日本毛片在线观看 | 欧美日韩不卡中文字幕在线 | 在线观看精品福利片香蕉 | 亚洲国产一区在线 | 国产成人免费在线观看 | 欧美一级欧美一级毛片 | 人做人爱全免费视频 |