Chinese men left behind by Asian counterparts

Four years on from Li Na's ­historic win at the French Open, how is the state of the Chinese tennis?

The answer, as has been the case since before Li won her first major title in 2011, depends on if the players are wearing shorts or skirts.

Four Chinese women ­entered the main draw of this year's French Open, which ­began Sunday, with another six players involved in the ­qualifying tournament. All 10 players are ranked in the world's top 160, as is Zheng Jie, a two-time Grand Slam winner in doubles. 

Compare that with China's top-ranked male player, Zhang Ze, who stands at No.183; the next, Wu Di, is outside the world's top 300.

The junior ranks show a similar imbalance, with six ­Chinese girls among the top 125 junior players, including world No.1 Xu Shilin, while the Chinese boys can boast just one. 

Li's success has undoubtedly given the women's game a ­massive boost in China, but that still doesn't explain the lack of progress made by the men. 

Since Michael Chang became the first - and so far only - ethnically Asian male to win a Grand Slam, other Asian countries and regions have made great strides in tennis, which serves only to highlight China's lack of progress.

Japan's Kei Nishikori, who is coached by Chang, has ­cemented his place in the world's top 10, Thailand's Paradorn Srichapan also broke into the world's top 10 and Chinese Taipei's Lu Yen-hsun once got as high as No.33. Even South Korea, a country not known for its tennis prowess, now has 19-year-old Chung Hyeon charging up the rankings, as well as three boys among the top 12 junior players.

China's highlights so far on the men's side have been Wu and Zhang competing in the main draw at the Australian Open, though they have yet to win a match between them in four tries.

The solution, according to Terry Rhoads, who manages Xu, the world's top-ranked ­junior girl, is to ship a bunch of the boys over to the US to train at the tennis academies there. Rhoads claimed Xu found it tough in the new highly competitive surroundings, but it made her grow up quickly. 

It was announced this month that Li's life story is now being made into a movie, but unless there is a massive ­structural change in the male tennis system in China, the men won't be troubling the Hollywood scriptwriters any time soon.