A wake-up call to Chinese men's tennis

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-10 09:49

WUHAN, China - Following the exit of China in the second round of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone Group I tie here on Sunday, a wake-up call is ringing to the country's men's tennis.

Although the Chinese girls highlighted the world tennis courts over the past years characterized by Li Na and Zheng Jie cruising into semifinals in this year's Australian Open, the level of the country's men's tennis is still low. Chinese male tennis players' weakness in terms of skill, body and mindset are all exposed in front of the world No. 21 team of Kazakhstan.

"It will be two years when the men start to make an impression on the world tour," said Lu Ling, the captain of Chinese men's tennis team, after coaching the five matches against Kazakhstan, in which China only won in the doubles rubber.

But the truth may be that it won't just be a matter of time.

The fact is that there is not a single Chinese man ranked within the world's top 100, and there is only one Chinese ranked within the world's top 400 - Zeng Shaoxuan, the world's No. 369. However, even for the most diehard Chinese tennis fans, the name of him are not household.

What is the reason behind?

"The popularity of tennis in China still lags far behind," explained Gao Shenyang, the deputy director of the country's tennis management centre. "To be honest,we are in an embarrassing talent drought."

"The grass roots tennis training system is more focused on the score than on players' body and basic skill. Lacking such two necessary elements in tennis will block the further development of tennis players. The level of Chinese tennis coach also lags far behind as they still cannot find the discipline of the game," said Gao.

"As the players are not trained systematically in younger age, the gap between them and world's top players will be larger when they become professional player," added Gao. Due to the low level, Chinese male players don't have high ranking so that they could only take part in few low-class tournaments, which makes them lack experience and confidence.

According to the development plan of China's tennis, female tennis is considered as the break through point. "Following the success of the women's tennis, the national team is putting more attention on men's part now, and implant women's experience into the men's competition," said Gao.

Gao also indicated that more experienced foreign coach will be invited and more young players will be sent abroad to learn and practice. "In order to earn a place in London Olympics, we will groom some talented young players. For instance, in this year's Davis Cup, we send teenager like Wu Di and Zhang Ze instead of the most experienced Zeng Shaoxuan," said Gao.