Off the court, the sixth-grader from Wuxi, in eastern China’s Jiangsu
province, speaks quietly and gently. But when it’s game time, she’s
laser-focused as she chases the ball, moving energetically across the
court.
Children tennis in Shanghai
Despite an overall trend of declining health and athleticism among
Chinese children, a growing number of young people are taking up tennis —
a sport invented in the U.K. in 1873 that barely existed in China less
than two decades ago.
Like many others, Ni began playing tennis in 2011, when China’s former
world No. 2 women’s tennis player Li Na became the first from Asia to
win the Grand Slam championship title at the French Open. Li’s success
led to a domestic tennis fever, and that same year, Ni’s father and
coach, Xi Zhiye, began training his then-5-year-old daughter.“There was a
surge in the number of Chinese teenagers starting to learn tennis that
year — some of the parents thought the sport could be a possible future
for their children,” said Xi, who quit his job in securities trading two
years ago to focus on his daughter’s tennis training.
In her age group, Ni is a top player: Last year, she won third place in
the national Zheng Jie Cup teen tennis tournament. The 11-year-old is a
short-distance runner and a soccer player on the school teams, but it’s
her tennis ability cultivated over six years of intensive training that
has won her the most medals.
“I like playing tennis. It helps me relax after school,” Ni told Sixth
Tone. “I’m the only one at my school who plays tennis, but I don’t feel
lonely — I make friends at different tournaments, and they’re all
excellent tennis players.”
The number of tennis players registered at Shanghai’s 16 government-run
children’s sports clubs has increased tenfold since 2007, from 100 to
1,075 today, according to the city’s tennis association. A decade ago,
only five of the 16 district clubs offered tennis, but now each has a
team, said Xue Lei, vice secretary-general of the association. Tennis is
also being offered at schools alongside other sports as part of a wider
push by the Chinese government to encourage children to stay active.
Xue attributes the increased interest in youth tennis to the sport’s
growing profile in China. In 1998, the international tennis tournament
Heineken Open came to Shanghai, making it the first world-class tennis
competition in the country. The Tennis Masters Cup and ATP World Tour
Masters 1000 tournaments followed a few years later. Earlier this month,
the Shanghai Masters entered its ninth year, drawing top international
players like men’s singles champion Roger Federer.
“Many young parents today grew up watching these tennis games or
following a certain star tennis player,” said Xue. “Motivated by their
own interest in the sport, they started bringing their children to the
court.”
This is certainly true for Ni, whose father began playing tennis as a
hobby in the late 1990s and remains a loyal fan of Federer. Xi couldn’t
wait to start teaching his daughter the sport when she turned 5 —
considered the minimum age for children to start tennis
training.school’s permission — and takes her to the court for her
two-hour tennis practice. After dinner, she spends an hour on homework
and goes to bed by 9:30 p.m.
Height is one barrier to playing tennis professionally. Top female
tennis players must be relatively tall to reach the ball, but not so
tall that their height slows them down. Ni undergoes bone age
assessments every year to track her skeletal development, and current
estimates suggest the 155-centimeter-tall girl could grow to between 172
centimeters and 175 centimeters — tall enough to pursue a professional
tennis career. (By comparison, China’s top female tennis player, Li, is
172 centimeters tall.)
Ni’s father believes the real challenges lie ahead, when his daughter
may be forced to choose between athletics and academics. While Xi
believes university studies are a must, he doesn’t want her tennis
training to go to waste. “In the U.S., there’s no contradiction between
sports and academic studies, but in China, it’s the reality,” he
explained. “Without appropriate academic learning, I’m afraid Ni would
fall behind in terms of general knowledge and communication skills.”
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