By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday July 6, 2024
Meet Lulu Sun, the trilingual World No.123, who came from qualifying to become the first player from New Zealand to reach the second week of Wimbledon in the Open Era. Sun is also the first woman representing New Zealand to reach the fourth round of any major since Belinda Cordwell made the 1989 Australian Open semifinals.
The 23-year-old, who played college tennis at the University of Texas, has a Chinese mother and a dad from Croatia.
She continued her momentum on Day 7 at Wimbledon, stunning 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu with a breakthaking performance, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. The 23-year-old struck 52 winners and attacked the net with throwback ferocity, winning 23 of 28 points in the forecourt.
After her win she said she had watched Roger Federer and old YouTube highlights of Steffi Graf vs Martina Navratilova to gain inspiration for how to play on grass.
Sun is into the quarterfinals in her main draw Wimbledon debut, and is now the seventh player to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals with a ranking outside the Top-100 in the last 40 years. She had never won a main draw match at a major, losing in the first-round in her only previous Grand Slam match earlier this year.
Sun decided to play for New Zealand this year, after getting a warm welcome from fans of her home nation in Auckland.
It hasn’t taken her long to start making history for her nation, she switched nationalities in March and is playing in her first Grand Slam main draw as a Kiwi.
“That is something that definitely doesn't come by often, and I'm super grateful to be in this situation,” Sun said. “You know, I feel definitely the support through the people and through Tennis New Zealand, and I'm super happy and grateful each round to be able to be here.”
These days, Sun spends her time in Florida and Slovakia (where her current coach, Vladimir Platenik resides).
She was born in New Zealand “in a town with more sheep and deer than people,” then moved to Shanghai, before relocating to Switzerland.
A citizen of the world, Sun knocked out China’s Zheng Qinwen for her first career Top-10 win in the first round at Wimbledon (it was her first main draw win at a Grand Slam as well, and her first Top-100 win too).
“She's, obviously, been far in the Grand Slams before, and she's, I'm pretty sure, Wimbledon's favorite since she's from here,” Sun said ahead of her match with Raducanu. “But, I don't know, playing on Centre and playing against her is an opportunity that I would be happy to play.”
Sun, a southpaw with eight career WTA wins to her name, will face Donna Vekic in the quarterfinals.
"I wasn't expecting to be here at this stage, but I've just been playing match-by-match. But yeah, here I am," she said.
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport