In March, Wu Yibing was still ranked 1869 in the world, six months later he enters the world’s biggest tennis stadium at the US Open. On Saturday night, he will challenge Russian defending champion and world number one Daniil Medvedev at the nearly 24,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Wu became the first Chinese male player in the professional era (since 1968) to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. On the women’s side, the giant kingdom has long since moved up to the world’s best across the board as well, with a quartet making it past the second round in New York. “That’s positive,” said Zheng Qinwen, who is the next opponent of Dortmund’s Jule Niemeier on Saturday: “It shows that tennis in China is getting better and better.”
This is exactly what has been expected for years. In China, tennis has long been a billion-dollar business; according to the Liverpool Management School, about 14 million people now regularly pick up a racket. The success at the US Open should strengthen the boom.
He is happy to have made history here, said Wu, but it is more important “that we become even more great players in our country”. The 22-year-old, who had already won the singles and doubles titles in the US Open’s junior competition in 2017, has enjoyed huge popularity on China’s social media for days. “Because I’m a good-looking boy,” Wu said with a laugh.
But tennis and China – it’s not just fun. The case of Peng Shuai still moves the scene. Last November, the player had accused a high-ranking Chinese politician of sexual abuse on the social network Weibo. The post was deleted soon after. Peng later denied having made the accusations. State censors had blocked any debate about it on the Chinese internet.
Athletes, politicians and human rights activists expressed concern. The women’s tennis professional organisation WTA cancelled all tournaments in China because of the case. The men’s organisation ATP is currently also abstaining from events in China, but justifies this with the strict Corona rules there.
