French Open last chance for Olympic hopefuls

Chinese women hoping to clinch an Olympic berth will have to prove themselves at the French Open if their Beijing dreams are to continue.

The team, led by singles star Li Na and Grand Slam champions Zheng Jie and Yan Zi, hopes to land medals in both singles and doubles events at the Olympic Green Tennis Center in August. But the first hurdle is making sure everyone has a ticket to the Games.

Whoever is ranked in the top 56 WTA World Rankings in singles (top 10 in doubles) on June 9 will win a trip to the Olympics. Of China's women, only No 36 Li and No 44 Yan would qualify based on the current rankings. If the team again falters in Sunday's French Open, tennis for China in the Olympics may turn out to be a flop.

"For me the number one thing is to let my girls play without pressure," said national team head coach Jiang Hongwei. "Time is urgent, and the French Open will be their last try before the Olympic entries are decided. We have put in so much effort since 2004 and we have drawn so much attention from the whole nation, so we don't want to let people down.

"But the situation is very tough for us, I have to say."

Jiang is indeed in a tough position. All his top players have battled through injuries and inconsistent form since 2006 when five of his players were ranked in the top 100. Li and Zheng were both out of action for six months with injuries last year, while Peng Shuai, who teams with doubles ace Sun Tiantian, has yet to show her top form this year.

Gao Shenyang, vice-director of the Chinese Tennis Association (CTA), admits that the intense pressure seems to be the reason behind his players recent struggles.

"Can you imagine it?" said Gao. "You buy a newspaper, you see yourself on it and the story is about how you win the Olympic gold medal. The pressure is too much for the girls.

"They need to focus on the ball, not the newspaper or television. I want them to play in the way they did four years ago. They were newcomers at that time and they were nobody, they could just step onto a court and enjoy the games, because every point was a bonus."

But Gao cannot simply turn back the clock to the early years. After Li Ting and Sun won China its first-ever Olympic gold medal in Athens four years ago, tennis has grown from a luxurious pastime into one of the nation's favorite events, on par with women's volleyball, table tennis and diving. Interest is so high that in 2006 Beijing Television opted to broadcast Zheng and Yan's Wimbledon doubles final rather than the soccer World Cup final.

Out of shape, out of form

But injuries and poor conditioning are just as much to blame for China's recent poor form. China's No 1 singles player Li, for example, will be unable to play at Roland Garros as she is rehabbing her knee in Germany after surgery last month.

Zheng and Yan, who won doubles titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006, have also struggled to get in shape this year. They lost to Spanish rivals Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-4, 6-2 at the Rome Open last week. Later in the week at the German Open, they won only three games in a humiliating loss to another Spanish pair Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez in Berlin. The Chinese pair - both from Chengdu, Sichuan province - have lost all five matches they have played since March.

Zheng will automatically enter the Games as long as her doubles partner maintains her current ranking. But the situation is not as hopeful for the other pair, Peng and Sun.

Peng, No 66, needs to climb 10 spots in Paris to land a spot. Sun, who is ranked No 20 in doubles and a distant 208 in singles rankings, has a much longer road ahead of her.

CTA, for its part, has done everything in its power to improve the performances of its players. It established a training base in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, including a 40-man research team to monitor performances. It has employed a number of experienced foreign coaches to lend their expertise. CTA even allowed Li's husband Jiang Shan to accompany her to international tournaments, an unprecedented move for any national team as romances are strictly forbidden to interfere with performance.

"I am confident we will realize our Olympic goal, though there could be many challenges along the road," Zheng said. "I believe I can overcome them because there are so many people behind us.

"My teammates and I are making the best possible preparations for the Olympics, and we will show our best form at the Games."

(China Daily 05/22/2008 page22)