PARIS — It was only a matter of time for Chinese tennis, wasn’t it?
In the biggest win on a tennis court for the world’s most populous country since the glory days of Li Na, Zheng Qinwen won the gold medal for China at Roland Garros on Saturday afternoon.
Zheng, a 21-year-old rising star, took advantage of an erratic performance from Donna Vekic of Croatia to give China its first Olympic medal in singles, on the same court that Li notched her breakthrough win at the French Open, 13 years ago.
“I always wanted to be one of the players who can inspire young kids,” Zheng said with the gold medal hanging from her neck. She said the Olympics are the most important tournament in her country, even more important than the Grand Slams. Especially to her father, who pushed her into the sport when she was a small girl growing up in Shiyan, a city in northern China. Aged seven, Zheng went to Wuhan with her father to play in front of a coach. She impressed so much that she would stay there to train — alone.
“Now I can tell him I made history,” she said, beaming with the brightest of smiles.
It was a win that the Chinese who travelled to Paris for these Olympics and those who live here as part of the burgeoning diaspora were ready for.
Flags were everywhere in the crowd at Court…
