For China’s male tennis players, signs of a new dawn at the French Open

Hemmed in between the French Open’s two showpiece arenas, Court No 8 ranks among the smallest of the 18 clay courts at Roland Garros. On a sweltering Tuesday afternoon, the 350-seater venue was also among the loudest – courtesy of a smattering of flag-waving Chinese fans who tried their best to push Li Zheng, the world number 40, during her opening-round defeat. 

Boisterous Chinese fans have become a fixture of the Paris Grand Slam tournament. This is where the women’s game in China achieved its breakthrough a decade ago, with Li Na’s 2011 triumph on the Paris clay – the first Grand Slam singles title for a Chinese player. 

As a result, the French Open holds a “special place in Chinese hearts”, said tennis fan Youyuan, leaving the stands at Court 8 following Zhen’s straight-sets defeat (6-3, 6-3) against Lauren Davis of the United States. 

“We’re used to seeing female players from China here in Paris,” said the 36-year-old from Suzhou, near Shanghai, making his fourth trip to Roland Garros. “The great news this year is that we have male players too.” 

‘Catch the girls’ 

For its first appearance in the men’s draw since 1937, China has fielded a total of three players this year, all of whom had their opening-round matches on Monday.  

First up was teenage sensation Shang Juncheng, fresh from his second-round showing at the Australian Open in January, when he was still only 17. Shang got off to a flying start against Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru, cruising to an early two-set lead. But a wrist injury – and, possibly, inexperience – saw him fade away in the punishing heat and bow out in five sets (4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1). 

Meanwhile, 23-year-old Wu Yibing faced a tough opponent in veteran Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, who twice reached the last-16 here in Paris. Wu narrowly lost the first set in a tie-break, before slumping to a relatively straightforward 7-6, 6-1, 6-1 defeat. 

Their exits meant it was down to Zhang Zhizhen, 26, to give China its first man in the second round since 1937. In the end, the world number 71 needed just 59 minutes on court, owing to his opponent Dusan Lajovic of Serbia retiring with a stomach virus while trailing 6-1, 4-1. 

The victory was “quite special”, Zhang said at the post-match press conference, pointing to his country’s long wait for a male win. He said he hoped his countrymen could someday achieve the sort of success Chinese women have accumulated in tennis. 

“(Chinese) Girls have a lot of people playing. Now we (men) are more and more,” he said. “Yeah, we are trying to catch the girls.” 

Breaking ground 

A relatively late bloomer, Zhang is the first Chinese man to break into the top 100 in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP)’s world ranking. In the run-up to the French Open, he also became the first to reach the quarter-finals of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, in Madrid, ousting a trio of top-50 players – Denis Shapovalov, Cameron Norrie and Taylor Fritz – along the way.  

Wu and Shang, the two other rising stars, have set their own ‘firsts’ over the past 12 months. 

The former ended China’s decades-long wait for a main-draw win at the US Open last year, reaching the third round at Flushing Meadows. Shang followed that with his winning Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open in January. 

The next month, Wu became the first male Chinese player to win an ATP Tour title, beating home favourite John Isner in the final of the Dallas Open. 

“Last year, even the quallies (qualifiers) I couldn’t get in,” Zhang told reporters after his victory on Monday. “Now we are passing the quallies and coming to the main draw. That’s another step forward.” 

Playing catch up 

The rise of the men’s game has come at an opportune time for China, providing a welcome distraction from the controversy surrounding the disappearance of the country’s best-known female player Peng Shuai, who dropped out of public view after making sexual assault accusations against a high-ranking Chinese government official in 2021. 

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the sport’s governing body, announced soon after that it would suspend all of its tournaments in China until the authorities in Beijing had investigated the matter. The boycott was eventually lifted last month, without an investigation, reflecting the WTA’s reluctance to give up on what has become a lucrative market for tennis. 

Back at the French Open’s Court 8, Youyuan, the fan from Suzhou, was confident the examples set by Zhang, Wu and Shang would help further develop tennis back home, for male players as well. He noted that the sport was still only accessible to youngsters in the larger cities whose parents could afford the training, but that interest was growing. 

“People in France have been playing tennis for centuries, whereas we’ve just had a few decades’ practice,” he said. “But we will catch up.” 

Pulling out his phone, he pointed to messages from friends and relatives back home who were following the French Open on television. One even sent a clip from Li’s match, in which Youyuan’s courtside encouragements could be heard. 

The flag-waving fans will be back in force on Thursday for Zhang’s second-round match against Argentinian qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante. Even if the Chinese player fails to progress further, this will already have been a successful tournament, said Youyuan. 

“It’s already a great achievement to have three male players in the top 100 in the world,” he said. “Let’s hope next time we come there will be one or two in the top 50.”