"Grassroots tennis is the starting point of everything", why are there so many famous tennis players in China?

Ten years ago, when a generation of famous Li Na retired, some people wondered: when will the next Li Na appear?

In addition to Zheng Qinwen, who won the first Olympic women's singles gold medal in Chinese tennis, in recent years, Yuan Yue, Wang Xiyu, Zhu Lin, Wang Xinyu These young players have also created good results in the field.

In January 2023, 10 players from the Chinese Tennis Association participated in the Australian Open singles main draw, setting a new record in the Australian Open; In September 2023, 7 players from the China Tennis Association entered the US Open singles main draw and all of them advanced in the first round; In January 2024, Zheng Qinwen and Wang Yafan faced each other across the net, and the Australian Open's central court ushered in the "Chinese Derby" for the first time in the Open era...... It has become the norm for Chinese tennis association players to play in Grand Slam tournaments as a "group army", and women's tennis players are going further and further in the tournament, while men's tennis is also rising rapidly.

Interestingly, Zheng Qinwen, who made history this time, is from Hubei like Li Na, the first sister in the Chinese tennis world.

If you look at the history of domestic tennis competitions, from Yu Liqiao, Ma Qin, Pan Bing to Zhu Benqiang, Li Ting, Li Na, most of these iconic figures of Chinese tennis come from Hubei Province.

In Hubei, there is China's only Chinese tennis characteristic city and China's first tennis village. Guizhou has a village supermarket, while Hubei has a village network.

Hubei tennis has a long history

Some people say that Hubei is the hometown of tennis in China. And this is not without reason.

Wuhan is one of the few cities in China with a century-old tennis tradition. In October 1960, the Hubei Provincial Tennis Team was officially established in the Xinhua Road Stadium, which was quite primitive at that time. From Yan Dacui in the 60s of the last century, there are Yu Liqiao and He Dongpo in the 70s, and then there are Ma Qin in the 80s, Pan Bing in the 90s, and then Zhu Benqiang, Li Ting and Li Na in the new century.

According to public information, players from Hubei have participated in major competitions such as the Asian Games, the University Games, the World Men's Team Championship (Davis Cup) and the World Women's Team Championship (Federation Cup) as the main athletes of the national team for many times, and have achieved excellent results.

Before Li Na, another tennis star from Hubei, Li Ting, won the women's doubles gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games. "Li Ting was only in the second grade when she first started playing, and I took a fancy to her at a glance." At that time, Yu Liqiao, the winner of 9 national women's singles championships, took the initiative to ask to take the second-tier team in Hubei after retiring in 1983.

These three people were jokingly called "three women in the world" by insiders. "In my opinion, the biggest magic weapon for the success of Hubei tennis is diligence and hard work." Former Chinese men's tennis coach He Dongpo praised Yu Liqiao in an interview many years ago, saying that she regards tennis as her life and her players as children. He Dongpo believes, "Hubei's high-level coaches are willing to teach from the baby, and the coach never sits and directs in every class, so how can he not be worried about good seedlings?!" ”

"The Chinese Tennis Association actively advocates the common ground and win-win development of professional tennis and the Olympic Games. The training mode of local outstanding reserve talents has also shifted from the single training of provincial and municipal sports teams to the training of diversified occupations. Huang Yanhong, director of the Tennis Management Center of the Hubei Provincial Sports Bureau, said.

It is better to invite someone to eat than to ask someone to sweat

Jingshan City, Hubei Province, located in the central part of Hubei Province and at the southern foot of Dahong Mountain, is known as the "Emerald of Central Hubei Province". However, this small and medium-sized Hubei city with a population of less than 700,000 is the only "tennis characteristic city" in the country. In August 2017, the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China approved the Hot Spring New Area of Jingshan City, Hubei Province as a pilot project of "China Tennis Characteristic Town", and one of the 96 pilot projects of sports and leisure characteristic towns in China.

Since the 80s of the 20th century, Jingshan has promoted the popularization of tennis. In 1983, the then city of Jingshan built the county's first sand tennis court in Wenfeng Park. In Jingshan, tennis gradually faded from the label of "aristocratic sports" and returned to the sports ontology of physical fitness. "The atmosphere of Jingshan tennis is very good, the participation of the masses is very high, and tennis here is not only professional and high-end, but also 'down-to-earth'." Zheng Jie, vice chairman of the Chinese Tennis Association, once commented.

According to official data, in 2018, there were more than 70,000 residents in Jingshan who participated in tennis fitness all year round, and in 2023, there will be more than 100,000 tennis enthusiasts, making it the city with the highest ratio of facilities per 10,000 people and the highest penetration rate of tennis in China. Citizens can reach a tennis court within a 15-minute walk from anywhere in the city. In recent years, Jingshan has hosted a series of domestic and foreign tournaments such as the International Tennis Federation Youth U18 Tour, China (Jingshan) Green Forest Tennis Heroes, and China (Jingshan) Tennis Festival.

Open the "Jingshan Tennis" official account, and you can make an appointment for a free tennis game in Wenfeng Park. There are 17 tennis courts, which are free of charge during the day and low at night, which can meet the needs of the public for nearby sports. A 10-minute drive from Wenfeng Park to Hot Spring Road, you can reach Wenfeng Village, the "No. 1 Tennis Village in China", with more than 80 tennis courts in the village, which is one of the core areas of Jingshan Tennis Town.

"It's better to invite people to eat than to ask people to sweat" has become a popular phrase in Jingshan. At present, Jingshan has 346 standardized tennis courts, 23 tennis clubs and 230,000 tennis association members. Every year, about 350,000 people go to the park to play ball and exercise, and the love and affection of Jingshan people for tennis has been integrated into their daily life.

In October last year, a popular Hubei "village network" was opened in Jingshan, which lasted for 17 days and attracted more than 3,000 people from all over the country to participate, including 40 teams in Jingshan. Fighting skills on the court, creating an atmosphere in the stands, and the whole people have a "tennis addiction".

International Tennis Federation (ITF) President David · Hagerty said: "Grassroots tennis is where it all starts. There is a view that in recent years, the "Chinese storm" set off by the international tennis world is inseparable from the strong atmosphere of non-governmental tennis, and after the base of the sports crowd is larger, it is easier to discover good seedlings.

In terms of tournaments, the China Open, Wuhan Open, Shanghai Masters, as well as events held in Zhengzhou, Guangzhou, Nanchang, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Chengdu and Zhuhai, have continuously increased public awareness of tennis and promoted the development of the sport in China. In addition, with the continuous accumulation of tennis culture and the improvement of Chinese families' spending power, parents are also willing to pay out of their own pockets to send their children to high-level clubs abroad for training, which further broadens the channels for talent training.

(This article is from Yicai)