Sports figures rethink romance

By Zhao Rui (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-10 08:48

Li Na (right) and her husband Jiang Shan

Andy Roddick is engaged to swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker.

Cristiano Ronaldo dates Spanish hottie Neireida Gallardo.

Zheng Jie, one of China's most successful female athletes, marries Zhang Yu?

Based on the behavior of testosterone-crazed Western athletes, you'd expect Zheng to hook up with movie star Chow Yun-Fat, or at least singer Andy Law.

Instead, the Chinese tennis star chose a relative nobody, a retired tennis player who ranked around 800 on the ATP Tour and is now her coach.

Is she missing something? Or, like other Chinese women athletes who have married "small husbands", does she know something her competitors don't?

Arguably the brightest female athlete in China, Zheng teamed up with doubles partner Yan Zi to win Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2006.

Their combined prize money and sponsorships topped 14 million yuan ($1.8 million), and they are considered China's best hope to win a second gold medal in tennis at the Beijing Olympics.

Zheng Jie credits her husband.

"All Chinese girls should marry a man like Zhang," Zheng said last month. "He supports me unselfishly. He is not only a husband, he's also a great friend and a great coach as well. I cannot win without his help."

Their relationship may be unusual, but it works for this young couple.

Zhang Yu, who represented China at the Davis Cup five times in the 1990s but never got past the preliminaries, retired from competitive tennis in 2000. He coached the Chinese men's team for six years before becoming Zheng's personal coach in 2006.

Despite the discrepancy in their careers, Zhang said he is OK with his role.

"She is at her best as a professional athlete," Zhang said.

"I have no problem helping her play better tennis. Because we are a couple, we communicate well. That's a huge advantage. Any time I want to make a suggestion about her game, she is there listening to me."

Their collaboration has beared fruit. Previously unranked, Zheng pocketed two Grand Slam titles in 2006 and climbed to No 2 in the WTA doubles rankings.

More important, says Zheng, are the personal rewards.

"All of a sudden, workouts are enjoyable," she said. "He designs a lot of little games on the court for me. For example, he gives me targets to hit when I practice my serve, and if I hit them three times in a row, he'll buy me a bag or some other gift. He makes it a lot of fun out there."

Zheng's serve was once her Achilles' heel. With Zhang's help, however, she has turned it into a potent weapon. She fired 11 aces in her 6-1, 6-4 victory over top-ranked Ana Ivanovic in the third round of the Wimbledon Open in June and slammed another nine to beat Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 in the next round.

But Zheng says she appreciated her husband most during the dark days of 2007, when she was sidelined for six months with an ankle injury.

"I want to say 'thank you so much' to him," Zheng told spectators after beating Ivanovic in Wimbledon. "I had some very hard times during my rehabilitation last year. I would not have been able to come back without him."

Zhang is not only a good coach and a generous husband; he is also an accomplished chef.

"He always cooks for Zheng. He's a great cook who knows how to prepare her favorite dishes," said Yan. "When she loses a match or has a bad day on the court, he'll cook her a nice meal to take her mind off tennis. I think this is ideal."

Although romance is generally forbidden on national sports teams, Zheng Jie and Zhang Yu are not the only athlete-coach couple in China.

Zheng's teammate Li Na and husband Jiang Shan were the first ones to break the mold. Jiang achieved nothing of note as a player and had no coaching qualifications, but he is widely credited with making Li a more mature athlete.

Considered a maverick on and off the court, the 26-year-old Li had split with five coaches since joining the national team in 2003 and even criticized the Chinese Tennis Association for not providing proper coaches for her.

But having her husband as a coach has changed all that.

"It's a great feeling to have your husband on tour with you all year long," Li said. "He's a lot more than a coach to me. He is my soul mate.

"I love playing in Dubai because I can buy a lot of clothes for him. Maybe that's not the best way to express my appreciation, but I just want to make him feel good," she added.

Yu Yang, husband of badminton singles champion Zhang Ning, is also her practice partner.

The two met when they were in middle school in Liaoning province and got married in 2001. They hid their relationship from sports officials for 10 years, until Zhang won a gold medal in Athens.

"We love each other no matter what we do," Zhang Ning said. "Maybe he is not a champion on the court but, he is a champion in my heart."

Having witnessed the success of athletes like Zheng Jie, Li Na, and Zhang Ning, sport officials are starting to rethink their policy on romance.

"These husbands are heroes as well. They've put in a lot of effort without much recognition," said tennis chief Sun Jinfang. "Now we do not interfere with the players' private lives. We'll even help them find a boyfriend if necessary."

"I think romance is a kind of motivation for them. We are playing a foreign sport, so maybe we need to follow the example of European and American players. It's totally normal for top players to come to a tournament with their families."

Badminton head coach Li Yongbo echoed Sun's point of view.

"These husbands are making a tremendous contribution to Chinese sports," he said. "They deserve gold medals as well."

(China Daily 08/10/2008 page6)