Author: Chinese women’s tennis, as a whole, is quite strong nowadays, but what about men’s tennis? What’s holding them back?
JS: The knowledge of how to be successful is there. What’s lacking is someone with enough courage and conviction to go ahead and do those things. Starting young, training abroad, taking losses and grinding out wins in tournaments all around the world – it just takes someone committed enough to take that risk and not give up. I think it’s a cultural issue.
Author: What do you mean ‘a cultural issue’?
If a young Chinese player tried to break through internationally for 2 years, without getting the right results, he will come to the conclusion that he does not have the talent, and give up. A young North American in the same situation will instead think that it is because he is not working hard enough. The North American was brought up in a culture which has always taught him that he can do anything if he sets his mind to it. Not so in China. My generation (on the ATP tour, Jiang Shan topped off at #987 in the world back in 2001) was brought up with a “weak country” mindset. Everything was “beat the US,” or “beat England,” but when they showed up, we might as well have called them uncle. We just didn’t think we were good enough to compete. Nowadays, it’s better. China’s GDP has gone up and there’s more belief in us being on the same level as other global powers. I have a feeling that Chinese kids born after 1995 will not have the same negative mentality as we did growing up. After that, success will just be a matter of time.
Author: What about table tennis or badminton? Is there more success for Chinese players in those sports because the mindset is different?
JS: No. The reason why China does so well in those sports is simply because North Americans and Europeans generally don’t care for them. Outside of China, sports are market-driven. If there is no interest, there is no money. If there’s no money, then there will be less high-level players; the best athletes will go to other sports. If Americans or Europeans decided that they want to be a global power in table tennis, they could do it within a few years. Look at Old Wa (Jan-Ove Waldner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan-Ove_Waldner). He’s been playing at the highest level for 30 years, and beaten all the best Chinese players. But it’s just him. Everyone else in Sweden is playing hockey.