Tennis is booming in China but not without courting controversy

China’s flourishing tennis scene has been a major boon to the country’s sense of national pride.

About 20 million people play the sport, putting China second on the global ranking for tennis participation behind only the United States.

An Olympic gold medal for one of the sport’s ascending stars, Zheng Qinwen — nicknamed “Queen Wen” — saw a surge of patriotism.

But the sport has faced some turbulence.

The women’s tournaments only returned to China last year following a four-year boycott due to safety concerns for former player Peng Shuai.

Peng temporarily disappeared from public view after she posted on social media about her relationship with a senior government figure and then denied ever claiming she had been sexually assaulted.

And in recent weeks, some players have apologised for racist comments or gestures that have offended Chinese fans.

In a country that has traditionally favoured the table variety of the sport, tennis is generating hundreds of millions of dollars and becoming a source of soft diplomacy.

Apologies for racist gestures

In the Asian swing of competitions over the past few weeks, some players have made headlines for the wrong reasons.

Former world number two Paula Badosa was heavily criticised after posing for a photo with chopsticks at the corners of her eyes.

She denied the gesture was imitating Asian people, saying: “I was playing around with my face and wrinkles”.

“I love Asia … and have plenty of Asian friends. They are the kindest.”

She later apologised: “Really sorry, I didn’t know this was offensive [or] towards racism. My mistake. I take full responsibility.”

The Wuhan Open, which returned this year for the first time since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was the site of another controversy.

Polish player Magda Linette also apologised after she posted a picture of her train to Wuhan with a caption in Polish reading: “The virus database has been updated.”

Global tensions

Hunter Fujak, a senior lecturer in Sports Management at Deakin University, said while he did not know the specifics of these cases, the public was often quick to crucify athletes for their mistakes, which were often due to naivety rather than ill intent.

He said athletes were often expected to be role models, but many were young and had foregone education to pursue sport.

“Athletes are humans, and humans make mistakes. It just so happens that the magnifying glass tends to be on them,” he said.

Haozhou Pu, an associate professor of sport management at the University of Dayton, agreed that recent pitfalls for the sport in China could be linked to increasingly complicated geopolitics, especially when tennis was “intertwined with sporting nationalism”.

“I think the players need to be more consciously aware of the political risks and the administrators of international competitions should adopt more proactive strategies in response,” he said.

China’s golden ‘Queen Wen’

The recent incidents mar what has otherwise been a stellar year for Chinese tennis.

Much of the hype surrounds the charismatic Zheng Qinwen, who won the gold medal for China at the recent Olympics.

It was a victory she described as more meaningful than winning a grand slam, despite the slams often having greater prestige and multi-million-dollar pay cheques.

When she broke into the top 10 and became runner-up in the Australian Open earlier this year, many drew parallels between her and two-time grand slam winner Li Na.

“Li Na and Zheng Qinwen have played a vital role in reshaping the image of female athletes in China,” said Jingying Cai, a PhD researcher at Western Sydney University with a focus on Chinese and Australian female tennis players.

Zheng Qinwen was listed as number 15 on the Forbes 2023 list of highest-paid female athletes, with about $8.3 million in endorsements from companies including Nike, Rolex, Alipay, McDonald’s, Yili and Gatorade, among others.

Dr Pu, from Dayton University, said both Zheng and Li were highly marketable and shared a “fierce but likeable” demeanour.

Tennis rebels and revolution

Dr Pu pointed out Li Na was seen as something of a rebel for “flying solo” — breaking from a state-sponsorship model that requires players to hand over the majority of their earnings.

“The ‘flying solo’ model, largely driven by the ideas of ‘free market’, has transformed the tennis development system in China and given the players more autonomy over their own careers,” he said.

“Zheng took a very different path to success compared to Li Na. She was not part of the state system, nor did she ever attempt to challenge or break away from the system like Li Na did.”

He said for many years, Zheng’s family was the primary backer of her tennis career.

In an interview with The New York Times last year, Zheng revealed the impact of being a sporting prodigy in China — at just eight years old she was living in a different city to her parents so she could train.

She said she cried a lot and would beg her parents not to leave when they visited each fortnight.

Ms Cai said Zheng represented a new generation of Chinese athletes, adding she was inspiring younger players and was affectionately referred to as “the new national icon” on social media.

China’s growing tennis ambitions

Much of the focus of China’s tennis rise has been on the women’s game thanks to Li and Zheng, but the men’s game is growing stronger too.

In 2022, Chinese journalist Zhang Bendou articulated his disappointment:

Zhang Zhizhen was the first to reach the milestone, in October 2022, and is now one of three Chinese men in the top 100. He also won an Olympic silver medal in the mixed doubles with compatriot Wang Xinyu.

In an interview with state-owned media outlet Xinhua this week, China’s Tennis Administration Centre director Bai Xilin spruiked a “Double 10, Double 100” strategy that aims to have 10 players of each gender in the top 100.

Mr Bai told Xinhua: “Since the reform and opening up, as people became better off, their horizons have been broadened.”

Ms Cai pointed out China was investing in tennis infrastructure and there had been significant growth in the Chinese tennis market in recent years, soaring from $950 million in 2019 to $1.2 billion in 2023 — a figure that is expected to swell again this year.

“This growth can largely be attributed to ongoing economic development, accelerated urbanisation, and the rise of the middle class, which provide a solid foundation for the expansion of the tennis market,” she said.

She added Zheng’s success not only attracted younger fans and made the sport more “popular and fashionable”, but it also served a role in sports diplomacy, projecting China’s confidence and competitiveness on a global stage in areas where the country had not historically dominated.

Ms Cai said “a love of tennis” could help unite people, despite “cultural misunderstandings”.

“In my research, I found that sports diplomacy increases cultural understanding, thus reducing racism and fostering a positive sports environment,” she said.

Dr Pu said the “frenzy” surrounding Zheng Qinwen today reminded him of the excitement surrounding Li Na many years ago.

“It would be interesting to see if the boon can be passed on to the enduring success of elite Chinese tennis players on the field.”