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What happened to Chinese (men) tennis?

3K views 34 replies 23 participants last post by  Uncle Latso 
#1 ·
Surprisingly for a huge country with the most population, there's still not a single male player in the top 150 (only 4 players in top 500 as of yet). The tennis history in this country may be arguably the main factor why they still can't produce great players yet but there's already some established players in the women side for quite some time. :shrug: Perhaps the guys aren't that interested in tennis? Or is it quite challenging for a Chinese man to play competitive tennis?:spit:

The question remains, when will there be a tennis great from China? :scratch:
 
#4 ·
What do you mean what happened? that would imply that at one time it was strong

to answer your question I don't think so. I know china wants to believe it can be the best at everything but I don't see any of the male players they have right now growing into anything special anyway. To even have someone like li na on the mens side would be a massive accomplishment for them
 
#6 · (Edited)
I don't anyone in Asia who has a chance to make any noise. So Why you want Chinese Men have to do some in Tennis

And you don't need your country to be best in every sport what would never happen

Tennis is Euro Sport and that maybe a reason ....

People in Asia who have Asian Sport... And of course European do so poor on it

so... Do you real need to get into someone else's world as Chinese play great tennis..
I don't think that is necessary
 
#7 ·
From an interview w/ Jiang Shan, Li Na's husband:

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.
http://bcomconfidential.wordpress.c...letic-and-otherwise-a-chat-with-li-nas-coach/
 
#9 ·
Same as soccer, Chinese women do some well and have been Top three in more than 20 years. But Chinese men still can't do anything on it

It real doesn't matter .. I don't think Asia have to do well in European Sport
 
#11 ·
Same as soccer, Chinese women do some well and have been Top three in more than 20 years. But Chinese men still can't do anything on it
lol Chinese men's soccer is a joke, I don't know much about it but they seem to have much better resources than the women, much more comfortable conditions, etc., and yet can't do anything but lose. Yet millions seem to watch them--cursing all the while, but watching. :eek:

I don't think it helps that the average height of Chinese men is 5' 5". That's not an immediate determinant of a country's success in tennis, of course. Kei Nishikori and David Ferrer are both on the short end of the tennis spectrum though, and they're both taller than the average Chinese man. It's not like basketball either, where parents can suddenly go "Oh, our boy's going to be tall, let's get him started in basketball!"

Player development starts at such a young age in tennis. There's no way to tell how tall a kid is going to be. How much sense does it make to invest all this time, effort and money into developing a child into a world class tennis player when the odds are he won't grow past 5' 7".

I do expect that with Li Na's success more tennis players will be coming out of China in the coming years, but for every one that happens to be tall enough there will be many, perhaps thousands, that just don't meet the current height standards. And tennis is continuing to get taller.
Yeah, tennis doesn't have nearly as much popularity as basketball, but I think the interest is growing, so hopefully the talent pool will become more substantial.

:rolleyes: Speaking of height, there is also that guy who beat Gasquet and had that famous 18 incident. He's 6'2".
 
#10 ·
I don't think it helps that the average height of Chinese men is 5' 5". That's not an immediate determinant of a country's success in tennis, of course. Kei Nishikori and David Ferrer are both on the short end of the tennis spectrum though, and they're both taller than the average Chinese man. It's not like basketball either, where parents can suddenly go "Oh, our boy's going to be tall, let's get him started in basketball!"

Player development starts at such a young age in tennis. There's no way to tell how tall a kid is going to be. How much sense does it make to invest all this time, effort and money into developing a child into a world class tennis player when the odds are he won't grow past 5' 7".

I do expect that with Li Na's success more tennis players will be coming out of China in the coming years, but for every one that happens to be tall enough there will be many, perhaps thousands, that just don't meet the current height standards. And tennis is continuing to get taller.
 
#12 ·
I agree height is becoming more and more important in sport (not just tennis).

But as standards of living in China rise, the people will get taller. British soldiers in the 1st world war were 5 5 on average, while the Germans were about 3 inches taller due to their social welfare programs.

The main issue is they have no history in the sport.
 
#19 ·
zhang is actually decent the problem is he doesnt play enough outside of asia and in todays game u need to play more tourneys

di wu is a year younger and has a lot of potential but doubt he will live up to it considering he also hardly ever plays outside of asia
Japan is well ahead of china in tennis and i think south korea will over take them in a few years too
 
#21 ·
4 players in top 500 does seem disproportionate despite sports being highly valued in the country.

Who wants to put some height stats together for the top 500? Anyone a student or unemployed? Kyle?
 
#25 ·
The answer you're looking for is the lack of state social welfare which other nations have. That is, if a sportsperson fails in China, he/she has no income at all and will starve. That means only the most prodigious children ever go into sports, and they will often go into sports like table tennis or badminton which have a good state program and high domestic interest. Tennis courts also were rare in china and are very expensive to hire - far beyond the budget of most middle class families.

I don't think it is a case of genetic unsuitability ... China has such a huge population that you will find people of all abilities and shapes there.
 
#27 ·
I'm happy to see such a thread talking about Chinese men's tennis. I don't quite agree with JIANG Shan concerning some points in his interview. Chinese people started getting to know tennis in 2004 after LI Ting and SUN Tiantian won the Olympic Gold Medal of Women's doubles and the China Open debut in Beijing. Before that tennis was unfamiliar to us. Also considering cultivating a high level tennis player made too much of a burden to Chinese families, it might be a wise choice to suspend training a kid who couldn't breakthrough. This young kids' running off should not be simply explained by lacking of courage and conviction.
 
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#29 ·
Who is ZHANG Ze? Did he beat Gas??? really??
 
#30 ·
One thing to add, ZHANG Ze's highest ranking is 148 reached on May 27th this year. Due to the damn National Games his and WU Di's ranking declined a lot.
 
#32 ·
The top young athletes go into other sports, simple as that. Tennis is still relatively new and it will take a while for it to have enough presence to attract young, dedicated men to train for a sport where it is very difficult to even break even financially.

The Chinese domestic market is huge. Table tennis players have team leagues the way that other countries have football and basketball leagues. Top badminton players like Lin Dan are superstars and get the lifestyle and endorsements of top athletes in other sports despite not being household names in Europe, the U.S. and other Western markets. Even if a kid was into racket sports, he's more likely to choose ping pong or badminton than tennis.

That said, tennis courts are popping up everywhere in wealthy neighborhoods in Chinese cities. I feel like if a Chinese guy does break through, it will be more like a Gulbis (wealthy family, self-funded and training abroad) than the stereotypical farmer's son sent to a Chinese sports academy.
 
#33 ·
The top young athletes go into other sports, simple as that. Tennis is still relatively new and it will take a while for it to have enough presence to attract young, dedicated men to train for a sport where it is very difficult to even break even financially.

The Chinese domestic market is huge. Table tennis players have team leagues the way that other countries have football and basketball leagues. Top badminton players like Lin Dan are superstars and get the lifestyle and endorsements of top athletes in other sports despite not being household names in Europe, the U.S. and other Western markets. Even if a kid was into racket sports, he's more likely to choose ping pong or badminton than tennis.

That said, tennis courts are popping up everywhere in wealthy neighborhoods in Chinese cities. I feel like if a Chinese guy does break through, it will be more like a Gulbis (wealthy family, self-funded and training abroad) than the stereotypical farmer's son sent to a Chinese sports academy.
I agree on that point.
 
#34 ·
What do you mean what happened to it, it was never great in the 1st place.
 
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