Another Chinese dragon breathes fire in the tennis circuit. After Qinwen Zheng’s remarkable run at the Australian Open 2024, Zhizhen Zhang rises on the Grass court of Halle. The Chinese are certainly having the best time of his professional career, as he brushed aside Christopher Eubanks to set up a semifinal clash with Jannik Sinner. Though his rise may surprise the tennis world, it may not be a unique spectacle for his family! As Zhang inherits the traits of two players.

Zhang comes from a rich athletic background. His father, Zhang WeiHua, was a soccer player. He represented Shanghai ShenHua during his heyday. His mother, Qin Wei, was a shooter. However, his parents were not very keen on letting Zhang join the sports they played. Back in 2021, Zhang revealed the reason for their reluctance. He said, “My father was a soccer player, but my father didn’t want me to play soccer. The reason is there are 11 players on the [field]. You are not deciding [the game for] the whole team, so it’s tough.” It is a fact that in a team sport like soccer, an individual can change the flow of the game, but he is not the decision-maker for the whole team.

Moreover, his parents wanted him to focus on himself and decide the course of his game. He further added, “He wanted me to play something that I can decide how the match goes. Tennis, I can decide everything. I [can] decide to lose, or decide to win. It’s all about me. It’s not about the other 10 people.” Hence, Zhang was introduced to tennis as young as 4, the little player holding the tennis racquet as tall as him!

This was not all, at the age of 6, Zhang made another big decision at the behest of his father. His father gave him a choice to choose from 3 options and devout his focus on one goal. And the Chinese chose tennis over studies and swimming. Why? His reasoning is not as far thought as his father’s. The then 6-year-old wanted to evade the strict swimming coaches and hence went for easygoing tennis ones. Fast forward to the future, Zhang created history by becoming the only Chinese man to enter the main draw of the Australian Open(2021) in the open era.

Despite not reaching the zenith during their tie, his parents did lay a strong foundation for Zhang to bust the myth of men’s tennis in China. China is a leader when it comes to swimming, badminton, chess, and other sports. However, tennis has been elusive from the Chinese domination list for long. But the ways have changed, as China has started treading into the tennis courts with the veterans leading the way for youngsters such as Shang Juncheng. And his recent exploit at Halle is bound to motivate Chinese to choose tennis.

 Zhizhen Zhang to face Jannik Sinner in the semis

At Halle, Zhang displayed phenomenal tennis to counter Eubanks on the Grass court with 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. As he made history by becoming the first Chinese man to win a match on a Grass court. However, his next opponent is a seasoned tennis star, Jannik Sinner, out for the blood, after mourning his French Open loss.

However, not many fans might be aware of the small history that Zhang shares with Jannik Sinner. The Chinese started at the same time as Sinner and Medvedev. The latter two are consistent at the majors and the top 5, while Zhang is figuring out his way. But he didn’t let this fact dampen his spirits and is all set to challenge Sinner on the Grass. He said, “We started from the futures tournaments around the same time, but now they (Jannik and Daniil) are top five players, so I want to know our gap in the match.” 

It would be an interesting match to watch old foes reconnect with racquet and ball at Halle!