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Ten years ago, 12-year-old Zheng Qinwen sat in front of the TV with her friends in Wuhan to watch Li Na win the Australian Open final trophy. Zheng Qinwen mentioned many times that Li Na was the one who helped her plant the seeds of her dream that winter.

Ten years later, Zheng Qinwen also became the children's dream.

On August 1, in the women's singles semi-finals of the Paris Olympics tennis, Zheng Qinwen defeated the world's number one Polish star Swiatek to advance to the final.

On August 3, in the women's singles final of the Paris Olympics, Zheng Qinwen defeated Croatian tennis player Vikic in straight sets to win the gold medal. This is the first gold medal in the history of Chinese women's singles tennis at the Olympics.

It was almost midnight in Beijing time, but the news of Zheng Qinwen's victory instantly ignited major social platforms. Her popularity was no less than Li Na's unprecedented entry into the Australian Open. As a result, her personal commercial value became more and more shining. At present, Zheng Qinwen has about ten brand sponsorships, includingNike, Rolex, etc.

In the 2023 list of the highest-paid female athletes in sports published by Forbes magazine, Zheng Qinwen ranked 15th with $1.7 million in prize money and $5.5 million (nearly 40 million RMB) in sponsorship income, becoming the only two Chinese athletes to enter the top 20 along with Gu Ailing. Previously, Li Na ranked third on the Forbes list of female athletes with an income of $18.2 million, including $15 million in commercial income.

Zheng Qinwen, who broke the record for Chinese women's singles tennis, is in the "golden age" of her sports career, and her commercial value has greater room for imagination.

Skyrocketing value

"We won! Mom, I want to participate in the competition and win the championship too." Tennis coach Ma Jiatian took her 6-year-old son to watch the women's singles final on TV. Seeing Zheng Qinwen's victory, her son excitedly waved the national flag in his hand. He has been learning tennis for half a year.

"The tennis community may not pay as much attention to Zheng Qinwen's commercial value as you do," Ma Jiatian told the reporter from China Business Network. "One reason why my circle of friends has exploded is that she was the dream of tennis players like us. Many parents learned about tennis through Zheng Qinwen's victory. What we want is for our children to have dreams and fight for them." She told the reporter from China Business Network that many parents previously signed up for tennis training for the purpose of their children's physical exercise. Recently, parents have begun to pay attention to the learning efficiency of tennis, "which may be Zheng Qinwen's greatest social value."

Zheng Qinwen was born in an ordinary family in Shiyan City on October 8, 2002. Her father, Zheng Jianping, was an amateur athlete, and she received strict training since she was a child.

An investor of a tennis club who is familiar with one of Zheng Qinwen's coaches said that in the early stages of tennis learning, it is mostly based on interest.At first, Zheng Qinwen was like most children, with no obvious advantages, but he was very hardworking and worked hard. Later, his height and physical fitness became more prominent."In the early stage, the parents also tested him in badminton, table tennis and other sports, but the results were not very ideal. In the end, his performance in tennis made his father persist."

In 2008, Zheng Jianping took her daughter to Beijing to watch the Olympic Games. When it came to tennis, Zheng Qinwen, who was always cheering, suddenly became quiet. After the game, she discussed the details of the game with Zheng Jianping. It can be said that tennis chose Zheng Qinwen. She started playing tennis at the age of 6 and received systematic training in Shiyan, Wuhan and Beijing.

"If you look closely at Zheng Qinwen's experience, it is slightly different from Li Na's. First of all, the era background is different. Li Na went solo in 2009; Zheng Qinwen participated in an open tournament for global youth tennis players organized by IMG, the world's largest sports entertainment marketing management company, at the age of 11. Because of his outstanding performance in this game, he successfully signed a contract with the company and embarked on the road of professionalism." The person in charge of Taiyuan RTG Tennis Club told reporters.

Marion Barr, current vice president of WME-IMG's tennis division, once recalled the scene in an interview with the media: "I happened to be there at the time, and the coaches present watched the entire match. They all came to me and said, 'You must come and see, that Chinese girl is amazing!'"

Zheng Qinwen, who was less than 12 years old at the time, served the ball at a speed of 170 kilometers per hour in the game. Her "aggressive and fiery" style of play earned her the nickname "Fire (Rocket Girl)".

In August 2020, Zheng Qinwen officially embarked on the journey of a professional player, and her world ranking was 630th at the beginning. In 2022, Zheng Qinwen advanced to the top 16 in her first French Open and was elected the 2022 WTA (Women's Tennis Association) Newcomer of the Year. As a result, Zheng Qinwen's commercial value has soared. In August 2022, Zheng Qinwen becameAnt GroupAfter that, the Alipay and Nike logos appeared on Zheng Qinwen's jersey. Zheng Qinwen also won first-tier player-level sponsors such as professional sports supplement brand Gatorade and professional tennis brand Wilson.

In the Forbes 2023 Global Female Athlete Income List, Zheng Qinwen ranked 15th, with US$1.7 million in competition prize money and US$5.5 million in sponsorship income (nearly RMB 40 million).

After winning the Paris Olympics, there was a rumor that Zheng Qinwen's income might surpass Gu Ailing.

Gu Ailing's commercial value exploded after the Beijing Winter Olympics. Among the highest-paid female athletes in the world in 2023 selected by Forbes, Gu Ailing ranked second with $22.1 million. She earned $100,000 on the field and the other $22 million came from commercial endorsements.

20 million investment "slightly conservative"

"Behind these figures, we should look at their efforts," said the tennis club investor. "Unlike other sports in China, tennis is not very popular and well-known. The so-called professional path means that athletes need to have their own training team and training methods and play more commercial games. In addition to a lot of financial resources and years of hard work, most of them need the support of their families."

Before 2009, individual athletes’ families did not need to spend a lot of money, because the management model of Chinese tennis at that time was the same as most other sports, which was a national system. Once they entered the national team system, the players’ training, participation, use of funds and bonus distribution were managed by the tennis center or the national team, and the players could probably get a certain percentage of the bonus from professional competitions. But tennis is a very special sport, with the most complete professional system in the world. There is no quota limit for players, and no need for coaches to select them. If they feel good, they can play in the corresponding level of competition. Throughout the year, top professional players rush around in the four Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) and various cups and tours to strive for higher rankings and accumulate high bonuses.

But in China, in the individual event of tennis, there are prize money in the Olympics but no professional points.

Which is more valuable and meaningful, winning the four Grand Slam tournaments or winning the Olympic gold medal, has become the biggest debate between the sports system and athletes.

After the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese Tennis Association officially agreed that four female tennis players would take the lead in going solo.

This reform and development mode of relaxing the competition arrangement and encouraging self-financing led to Li Na's two Grand Slams. The breakthrough of Chinese tennis has greatly promoted the enthusiasm of the public to play tennis, expanded the popularity of tennis, and accelerated the professionalization process of tennis in my country.

Li Jiang, executive director of Yu Tang Sports, told the First Financial reporter that the commercial value of outstanding athletes trained "outside the system" will also have greater opportunities, and they can be more independent and flexible in commercial activities such as commercial endorsements, targeting the huge domestic and foreign sports market. This model of training athletes "outside the system" is a breakthrough in China's sports "national system" and can avoid the rent-seeking phenomenon that has occurred in Chinese football teams.

Especially in 2014, after Li Na won her second Grand Slam title, China's tennis training market began to heat up across the board, and the tennis training market also quickly shifted from adult training to youth training.

"At present, early stage training of youth tennis is mostly family-based. If the performance indicators meet the standards and are selected, they can join the city or provincial team. Parents can save time and effort and follow the national training plan. Another option is to find a team on their own, but it is extremely difficult for an ordinary family to train a tennis player to develop into a professional level and a career." said the investor.

Ma Jiatian told China Business News that ten years ago, some of her peers spent about 200,000 yuan a year on training and various competitions. This was the cost in second- and third-tier cities in China. The cost in first-tier cities and overseas was twice or even several times this amount. "The entire team includes not only physical trainers, but also nutritionists and other personnel. They analyze the athletes' situation every week and formulate targeted training plans."

Since he was a child, Zheng Qinwen's father has always arranged the "top-of-the-line" equipment for Zheng Qinwen, and the cost would naturally not be low.

The interviewed tennis club investor said that the professional path is different from ordinary interest classes. The annual cost of training teams with top-end resources is about 2 million yuan, and Zheng Qinwen can get some top-end resources. "There is a saying that the cost of training Zheng Qinwen is 20 million yuan. I think the investment cost of top-end resources is only a little more than 20 million yuan, and this figure is a bit conservative. But not every child who embarks on the path of tennis training will take the professional path."

Data from a takeout shopping platform showed that since July this year, the number of searches for "tennis" has increased by more than 60% year-on-year. Consumers in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Guangzhou have searched for tennis most enthusiastically, and consumers aged between 25 and 35 account for more than 50%; at the same time, tennis experience classes, tennis training quarterly packages, etc. are hot-selling on the platform, and the number of tennis-related group purchase orders has increased by 172% year-on-year.

Ma Jiatian said that most people who consult about learning tennis during the summer vacation are parents who consider their children's interests, education, etc., and mainly want to enter their ideal university through specialties such as tennis.

The above-mentioned investor said that the cost of investment in this type of training will not be too high. In first-tier cities in China, the cost of primary school is less than tens of thousands of yuan a year; if it is one-on-one teaching, plus various competitions, research and other expenses, it can be more than tens of thousands of yuan. This is similar to the investment in children's informatics Olympiads, various tutoring classes, etc. Tennis is not an aristocratic sport. As long as it becomes popular, children are interested, talented, diligent and hardworking, no matter which track they take, they will have opportunities, including becoming the next "Zheng Qinwen".

"Zheng Qinwen's victory has two meanings," Li Jiang said. On the one hand, it proves that Chinese people can win championships in mainstream sports in Europe and America, such as tennis. When asked about the difference between Zheng Qinwen and Li Na after winning the championship, she said, "Every era has its own winners." "Sister Na" (Li Na) is the first Asian player to win the Grand Slam women's singles championship; and she is the first Asian player to win the Olympic women's singles championship. She still has a long way to go, and the Grand Slam is also one of her dreams.

Another significance of this is that China can also cultivate world-class outstanding athletes through market-oriented means. In the future, it is expected that more Chinese parents will be willing to invest in their children to become professional athletes. Li Jiang said that the output value of China's sports industry is expected to reach 5 trillion yuan in 2025, and by 2035, China will become a sports power, and the sports industry will become one of the pillar industries of China's national economy. In the future, the proportion of market forces in China's sports will become larger and larger.

(Reporters Liu Xiaoying and Wang Zhen also contributed to this article)