Chinese tennis still waiting for next generation

Chinese tennis player Zheng Saisai made history last week - but, unfortunately for her, it was the wrong kind of history.

Zheng came out on the wrong side of a three-and-a-half-hour epic against American Madison Brengle in what was the longest women's match at the US Open since the tiebreak was introduced in 1970. 

As statistics go, it's firmly at the trivial end of the spectrum, but the fact that Zheng's mark was bettered just three days ­later is symptomatic of the wider malaise affecting the women's game in China.

Li Na retired last September leaving no obvious successor, but the game was in great shape, with a plethora of ladies soaring up the rankings, all ­vying to pick up where Li had left off. 

Less than one year later, however, things are not looking quite so rosy. 

Peng Shuai is the top-ranked Chinese player at No.39, but she hasn't played since retiring in the first round of the French Open. She had surgery on her back shortly afterwards, but it's far from certain she will ever ­return to full fitness.

Next comes Zheng, ranked 71st in the world, who has won just one out of her last nine ­tournament matches since ­winning back-to-back ­challenger tournaments in the spring.

No other Chinese player is in the top 100. 

Zhang Shuai - having been as high as 30 - is now barely in the top 200, Zheng Jie's lack of matches has seen her ranking plummet, while promising youngster Xu Shilin, once the world's best junior, has slipped to No.9 in the rankings.

At the US Open, none of the nine Chinese players made it through qualifying, with both players in the main draw losing early. Meanwhile, in doubles, it was only last year that mainlander Peng Shuai and her Taiwanese partner Hsieh Su-wei were the No.1 pairing in the world. But three girls from Taiwan now outrank the best of their mainland rivals.

China's sports world is still struggling to fill the triple void left by Yao Ming, Li and Liu Xiang, so tennis is not alone in its quest to move to the next level, but the upcoming China Open provides a good place to start.

With Li recently becoming a mother, her continued support of her sport from behind the scenes will have to take a temporary break. Time, then, for one of China's core group of players to step forward and pick up the reins.

Taken from Global Times - Mark Dreyer