Zheng and the art of ankle maintenance

看板Asiantennis作者erickin (阿更)時間17年前 (2008/07/03 18:32)推噓0(0推 0噓 0→)

留言0則, 0人參與討論串1/1

這篇寫得不錯，也提到了鄭潔這次創下的一些紀錄﹕ 她是史上首位闖進大滿貫四強的大陸選手，也是亞洲的第三人（之前兩位是日本的澤松和子和伊達公子）；是四大滿貫裡第二位持外卡晉級四強的女選手（上一位是1995年美網的Seles）；此外她是溫網史上排名第二低的四強球員（排名最低是1999年的Lucic，排名低鄭潔1位） Though ladies’ semi-finalist Zheng Jie of China is a relative unknown to the casual tennis observer, this Wimbledon marks something of a comeback for a player who was once ranked inside the top 30 and who has 10 doubles titles to her name. There have been a raft of statistics since the diminutive (she stands only 5’ 4”, or 1.64m) rightie from Chengdu in Sichuan province, overcame Nicole Vaidisova to win her quarter-final on Tuesday. First Grand Slam singles semi-finalist from China and the third ever Asian woman (after Japan’s Kazuko Sawamatsu and Kimiko Date); second wild-card to reach the last four of a Slam (the only other one being former champion Monica Seles at the 1995 US Open, on the comeback trail after her stabbing), second lowest ranked Wimbledon semi-finalist (at 133 in the world, she is one place higher than Mirjana Lucic who reached the last four here in 1999). She is, however, not the out-of-the-blue newcomer that many think she is. Zheng debuted on the ITF circuit as a 16-year-old in 2000 and won her first doubles title – with Yan Zi – the following year. She stepped up to the WTA tour in 2003, winning her first title with Yan that year and also becoming the first Chinese woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam at Roland Garros that year and the second (after Na Li) to win a WTA tour event at Hobart in 2005. The following year should have been the breakthrough year that confirmed Zheng as one of the top names in women’s tennis. She and Yan won the doubles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while she took singles titles at Estoril and Stockholm, rising to No. 26 in the world and being seeded at the US Open. She won gold at the Asian Games that year, beating Sania Mirza in the process, but this was as good as it got as injuries disrupted almost her entire 2007 season. She sprained her ankle heavily at Roland Garros and was forced to have surgery, leading her to withdraw from all events for the rest of the season. By the time she was fit and ready to play again, all the good work of the previous seasons had been undone and her ranking had plummeted to 163. She had to go through qualifying at the French Open but made the most of her opportunity, getting through to the main draw and beating Mara Santangelo and No. 21 seed Maria Kirilenko before falling to eventual runner-up Dinara Safina in the third round. This – and her previous doubles success on SW19’s lawns – was enough to secure a Wimbledon wild-card, and the subsequent results we have seen over the past 10 days. Her success has provided a much-needed boost to Sichuan province, ravaged by the recent earthquake, and she has pledged to donate her earnings here to the relief fund as well as doing charity work after the tournament. With the Olympics also looming on the horizon, China will be hoping that Zheng ’s ankle continues to withstand the strain as she gives the country something to smile about. Source: http://tinyurl.com/674t2z -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 122.100.184.215 ※ 編輯: erickin 來自: 122.100.179.191 (07/03 23:59)