Professional push

The rapid progress of Zheng and her peers, including another young female talent Wang Xinyu, who teamed up with the country's top male player, Zhang Zhizhen, to claim a silver medal in the mixed doubles on Friday, stems from a tennis revolution launched by the success of Li Na.

Talent development, at the core of that revolution, has evolved profoundly in China. Today's players are exposed to the pro circuit earlier, managing their own careers with the support of international coaches, fitness trainers, physios and agents, unlike in the traditional State-run system, where a national-team program manages everything.

The result of this new, professional approach has been quite encouraging, especially on the women's side.

Spearheaded by Zheng, China currently has six players ranked in the top 100 on the women's tour. Only the United States, Russia and the Czech Republic have more players than China in the top 100, with 13, 12 and eight, respectively.

Organizers and promoters have also played their part in bringing more high-level tournaments to China to keep pace with the on-court breakthroughs.

From hosting only three professional tournaments before 2010, China now has seven WTA tournaments and five men's Association of Tennis Professionals events scheduled this year, and has become one of the busiest destinations on the professional tennis calendar.

The China Open, already the biggest men's and women's combined tournament in Asia, promises to be bigger and better this year, too, thanks to the growing domestic appetite for elite tennis.

In April, the tournament organizers announced the women's competition will be upgraded to a two-week format with 96 draws, up from 64 last year, placing Beijing alongside Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome as the fifth top-flight WTA1000 tournament.

On the men's side, the ATP500 tournament is expected to continue serving up high-quality players. Grand Slam champions Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Italy's Jannik Sinner have all confirmed that they will return to Beijing this fall, after having featured in last year's star-studded men's draw.

The total prize money for the tournament, which runs from Sept 23 to Oct 6 at Beijing's National Tennis Center, will be increased to a record $13.14 million.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn