Unseen for 18 months, China, P.R. returns in style at Tokyo 2020

Of the 31 nations competing at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Tennis Event, perhaps none arrived as more of an unknown entity than five players from China, P.R., who haven’t been seen on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour since March 2020.

With COVID-19 restrictions confining the nation’s players to train and compete within their own borders, and ruling out the prospect of hosting tour-level wheelchair tournaments at home, a burgeoning programme disappeared from the drawsheets just as the nation’s breakthrough on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour seemed to be taking shape.

For the past five years, Zhu Zhenzhen has been at the heart of the Chinese charge. Since she became a tour regular in 2016, the 32-year-old has manoeuvred herself as high as No. 5 in the women’s singles rankings, and proven to be a regular thorn in the side of world No. 1 Diede De Groot, who fell to the Grand Slam debutant in the first round of the 2020 Australian Open.

Two months after that semi-final appearance in Melbourne, Zhu’s season ended, but the hard work did not. And now, on her return to action for a second Paralympic campaign at Tokyo 2020, the No. 7 seed is through to the quarter-finals following a hard-fought 7-6(2) 6-2 victory over Great Britain’s Lucy Shuker.

“It was a so-so performance, a seven or eight out of 10,” said Zhu, who will face world No. 2 Yui Kamiji in the quarter-finals. “But I am getting used to being on a match court again, so overall it was okay.

“I felt great regret that I could not play more tournaments and play more matches after last year’s Australian Open. We tried hard, but we didn’t have any choice because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I had to stay in China, so I focused all my efforts on training.

“At first it was very intense, as I decided to focus on improving my power, and now I am very pleased that I am more powerful on court, and that I am back playing matches. It’s so good to see so many of my friends from all over the world again.”

China, P.R.’s women became just the fourth nation in history to win the World Team Cup women’s title in 2017, following USA in 1994 and Australia in 1999 in upsetting the dominance of the Dutch in the competition, so their arrival has been expected.

Here in Tokyo, they are making up for lost time – not least world No. 26 Wang Ziying, who posted the biggest win of her career to beat No. 6 seed Kgothatso Montjane 6-2 6-3 for a place in the last eight.

“I’m very happy and excited right now,” said the 23-year-old, who will take on Aniek van Koot, the No. 3 seed, for a place in the semi-finals. “First of all, it’s my first Paralympics with the wheelchair tennis team and I cherish this very much. And Montjane is an opponent I hold in high esteem, a very good player.

“The secret? I trusted myself. I have been training every day with a calm attitude. I’ve enjoyed every match I’ve played, and right now I’m really happy. I’m very excited to be in the quarter-finals – it’s a pleasure to be competing again, especially with such good opponents.”

Joining the four-strong female contingent in Tokyo is 21-year-old Ji Zhenxu, who has been making waves of his own in the men’s singles draw, where he beat Dutch No.14 seed Maikel Scheffers to set up a third-round clash with Japanese three-time Paralympic champion Shingo Kunieda.

“I’m very happy to be here and have this wonderful match with Shingo,” world No. 47 Ji said following a 6-0 6-2 loss that fails to reflect the quality of his performance. “I wanted to learn from today’s match, and I think I learned a lot – I will take away a lot from this that I can apply to my training.

“It was such a long period for me since my last match. To prepare for these Paralympic Games, I have trained a lot. Now I am learning from the other athletes, I will analyse my weaknesses and study their strengths to make me better.”

Will we see China, P.R. return as a force once the pandemic eases and the nation can re-open its borders? Time will tell – but Zhu hopes to be part of the continued rise of wheelchair tennis in the nation, both as a player and beyond.

“I want to take China’s wheelchair tennis further one day,” she said. “In the future, I think I will put more effort into training wheelchair tennis players, cultivating them to promote the sport to the public and make it more and more popular in society.”