Racketing Up the Rankings: How Chinese Male Tennis Stars Are Serving Up Success On and Off the Court

On the evening of September 24, the finals of the ATP Hangzhou Open and ATP Chengdu Open kicked off.

The Chengdu Open final ended earlier. The young player born in 2005, Shang Juncheng, defeated the top seed of the tournament, Musetti, 7-6 (4), 6-1, and won the championship in his first ATP Tour final. This is also the second tour singles championship for a male player from mainland China.

The result of the Hangzhou Open was a little disappointing for Chinese fans. Zhang Zhizhen, the current top player in Chinese tennis, and his opponent Marin Cilic both played well, forcing both sets into tiebreaks. Grand Slam champion Cilic eventually won two crucial tiebreaks and became the last laugh.

So far, the Chinese men’s tennis has achieved fruitful results this season. Zhang Zhizhen has made it through the first round of the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, achieving the achievement of winning the main draws of the four Grand Slam singles; Xiao Shang, who will compete in the Grand Slam for the first time in 2023, has made rapid progress this year, reaching the third round of the men’s singles at both the Australian Open and the US Open, creating his best personal record and only one step away from the top 50 in the world; Buyun Chaoket, a “post-00” from Xinjiang, entered the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time this year, and reached the semi-finals of the Hangzhou Open, ranking in the top 100 for the first time in the world.

Many Chinese tennis fans call this moment “Chinese New Year”. After all, before 2022, Chinese men’s tennis did not even have a player in the world’s top 100. However, in just two years, the development of Chinese men’s tennis has been like a rocket, making rapid progress.

In October 2022, Zhang Zhizhen became the first male player from mainland China to enter the top 100 of the ATP men’s singles world rankings. At the beginning of 2022, the player from Shanghai was ranked outside the top 300.

In the same year’s US Open, Wu Yibing won three rounds in the qualifying rounds and became the first male tennis player from mainland China to enter the US Open. In the first round of the US Open, Wu Yibing defeated Georgian player Basilashvili, winning his first TOP50 victory in his career and becoming the first male tennis player from mainland China to win a Grand Slam match.

Following the two older players, the younger Shang Juncheng and Buyun Chaoket also began to emerge and became the rising stars of Chinese men’s tennis.

Zhang Zhizhen said that one of the main reasons why Chinese men’s tennis has made great progress in the past two years is that they have higher goals in mind. “The goal in your mind must be far enough to have a stronger motivation to do it. If you only set your goal in the first and second rounds of the ATP250 event, it will be difficult to continue to make breakthroughs. But if you set your goal high, it will provide long-term motivation.”

When participating in the US Open this year, Zhang Zhizhen was still looking forward to the moment when China would have four top 100 male players. Buyun Chaoket, who just competed in the Grand Slam for the first time in August, became the fourth person, and realized his dream of becoming the “number one” in just one month. “The foundation of Chinese tennis has indeed achieved such ability. I am very happy to see that the Chinese men’s tennis has made overall progress. The future of Chinese players is limitless.” Zhang Zhizhen said.

The collective strength of Chinese men’s tennis is getting stronger, and the players’ individual commercial layout has also kept up. Jiemian News noted that the four Chinese men’s players who have entered the world’s top 100 all have their own equipment sponsors: Shang Juncheng joined hands with Nike, Zhang Zhizhen cooperated with Geox, Bu Yunchaokete wore a Yonex jersey on the court, and Wu Yibing’s contract went to Adidas.

Take Shang Juncheng, the youngest of the four, as an example. As a teenager, Shang Juncheng was signed by IMG, one of the world’s largest sports agencies, and was exposed to top business and competition resources early on. In 2021, the 16-year-old Shang Juncheng participated in the ATP 1000-level Miami Masters qualifying tournament with a wild card and made his ATP Tour debut. Under the operation of IMG, brands such as Nike and Luckin Coffee have extended olive branches to Shang Juncheng.

(Source: Jiemian News)

Source: Jiemian News

Original title: Chinese male tennis players’ commercial value and performance have both increased

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