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Interface News Reporter | Ma Yue and Tan Siyue
Jiemian News Editor | Lou Qiqin

"Victory will answer everything."

In Beijing's Sanlitun, Nike displayed this line of words on several giant advertising screens. The eye-catching red slogan was set against the scene of Chinese tennis player Zheng Qinwen celebrating his victory after winning the singles championship at the Paris Olympics.

Zheng Qinwen's large advertisement in Sanlitun, Beijing. Image source: Xiaohongshu user @天下无敌小嗯咔

Similar large advertisements also appeared on landmark buildings in Huaihai Middle Road, Shanghai. Before the start of the Paris Olympics, Nike planned a series of pre-heating advertisements, in which Zheng Qinwen was one of them. Her resolute expression holding the racket, coupled with the large words "The only souvenir I want to take away from Paris is the medal", was released in Beijing, Shanghai and other places, and even appeared on the streets of New York in the corresponding English version.

A large advertisement of Zheng Qinwen winning the gold medal was released. Image source: Visual China

"Orders are booming. The machine has already produced sparks today," a Nike clerk said on the social platform Xiaohongshu. The same custom T-shirt that Zheng Qinwen wore after winning the championship is already on sale in the store, and the pattern needs to be printed on site by a machine - of course, the "medal" has been changed to "gold medal". The same product on the e-commerce platform was once sold out.

Sponsors who placed their bets on Zheng Qinwen in advance are celebrating.

In addition to Nike, which has been her sponsor since she was in middle school, a series of brands signed before the game, including Yili, Sweishi, Bawangchaji, etc., also sent congratulations as soon as possible and opened screens on social network apps. "If you engrave the desire to win into your bones, you can win," Sweishi wrote.

On August 3, Zheng Qinwen threw away her racket and fell on her back on the clay court after a well-placed shot by her opponent, Vikic, and the ball went out of bounds. She made history by becoming the first Chinese player to win the Olympic tennis singles championship. At the same time, she is also the first Asian athlete to stand on the highest podium of the Olympic event.

On August 6, Zheng Qinwen wrote an article in the People's Daily titled "Big dreams can only be achieved through persistence." "I have always envied those who can make history, and now I have become one of them," she wrote.

In the Chinese sports world, another rising star with a "female protagonist" script has emerged - a talented girl born in the 2000s, with an international vision, a fit and fashionable appearance, and excellent personal expression skills. This Chinese tennis queen in the post-Li Na era is on the road to catching up with or even surpassing her predecessors. If she wins another Grand Slam championship trophy, her future will be immeasurable.

Zheng Qinwen draped over the national flag after winning the championship. Image source: Visual China

It is hard not to be reminded of Gu Ailing two years ago. After winning two gold medals and one silver medal in freestyle skiing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, she became the first "post-00s" superstar in China because of her transcendent athletic achievements and the spirit of the young generation reflected in her personality, image and growth trajectory.

Unlike Gu Ailing, who was determined to win the gold medal before the Beijing Winter Olympics, Zheng Qinwen's road to winning the championship at the Paris Olympics was filled with some unexpected surprises.

This is because after winning the runner-up in the Australian Open in early 2024, she fell into a low period for quite a long time, and also attracted criticism from some fans on social networks that she was "floating", "playing baseball", and "a player who makes money from sponsorship".

But the situation was changed as Zheng Qinwen broke into the top four of the women's singles tennis at the Olympics, reached the semifinals and won the championship.

On the court, compared to his opponents' impatient behaviors such as smashing rackets and crying, Zheng Qinwen's super physical strength, cautious momentum and calm and steady heart just happen to fit the script of a popular "counterattack article" - "No one is optimistic about you, but you are the most competitive."

Superstars only have meaning under the sky of the times. The historic breakthroughs made by two young female athletes, both in their early 20s and who admire each other, in their respective fields also correspond to the current rising feminist narrative. The outside world is discussing and praising their family education, life details and path choices, and is also secretly measuring and comparing their growth potential and commercial value.

Behind all this is China's long-standing desire for epoch-making sports superstars like Yao Ming, Liu Xiang and Li Na.

The moment Zheng Qinwen won the Olympic gold medal, the outside world could no longer hold back in calculating how much money she could make - with a highly commercialized sport like tennis, she may very well be the next "advertising queen" after Gu Ailing.

Some current data can provide coordinates for judging Zheng Qinwen's commercial value.

In the 2023 ranking of the world's highest-paid female athletes released by Forbes, Zheng Qinwen ranked 15th with $1.7 million (about RMB 12.13 million) in on-court income and $5.5 million (about RMB 39.26 million) in off-court income. Gu Ailing ranked second with $100,000 (about RMB 710,000) in on-court income and $22 million (about RMB 157 million) in off-court income.

In the introduction of Zheng Qinwen in Forbes, some industry insiders speculated whether she would become a tennis star like Li Na, who was ranked in the top 3 in income rankings from 2012 to 2014. According to Forbes statistics, at her peak, Li Na once ranked second among female athletes in the world with an annual total income of US$23.6 million (approximately RMB 169 million).

At present, Zheng Qinwen holds commercial contracts with brands including Nike, Wilson, Yili, Ant Group, Bawang Cha Ji, Swisher, Lancome, etc.

Zheng Qinwen swings his racket on the court. Image source: Weibo @郑秦文Ana

Zheng Qinwen is also the first Chinese female tennis player to enter the Forbes income list after Li Na. It is foreseeable that after breaking the Chinese women's tennis singles Olympic record, Zheng Qinwen's commercial value will continue to grow exponentially.

If we compare Zheng Qinwen with Li Na and Gu Ailing in terms of endorsements or brand cooperation, we will find that Zheng Qinwen has potential in the fields of consumption, fashion, technology, and automobiles.

Similar to Gu Ailing and Su Yiming, Zheng Qinwen's athletic career also took an "out-of-system" path.

Unlike most Chinese athletes who rely on local sports management departments and subordinate sports schools and teams for study and training, Zheng Qinwen's entire tennis training process was basically entirely at her own expense, and she set up her own coaching and support team.

To some extent, it is this highly professional training system that enables Zheng Qinwen to obtain professional team resources to the greatest extent possible, unleash her talent and potential, and seek systematic technological breakthroughs. At the same time, her tenacious character and international expression ability have also been tempered and amplified.

Such achievements also benefited from the path blazed by predecessors such as Li Na.

Zheng Qinwen started to learn tennis in 2008. Her father Zheng Jianping found Xia Xiyao, the first coach of Li Na, the most famous tennis player in China at that time and their fellow Hubei native, to teach the five-year-old Zheng Qinwen. Later, with the efforts of her father, Zheng Qinwen became a disciple of Yu Liqiao, a famous coach of the Hubei Provincial Tennis Team.

Coincidentally, 2008 was also a year of "beginning" for Li Na.

It was after the Beijing Olympics of that year that he officially left the system and went "solo" - only paying management fees to the competent authority and bearing his own expenses for overseas training and competitions, becoming a true professional player.

In 2011, after going solo, Li Na won the French Open women's singles championship and became an Asian tennis superstar overnight.

This made father Zheng Jianping realize that he might need to open up a little more of his thinking on tennis training for his talented daughter.

Shortly after Li Na won the Australian Open in 2014, Zheng Qinwen, then 12 years old, moved from Wuhan to Beijing and entered the Beijing Craftsmanship Wheel Tennis School to learn from Li Na's mentor Carlos. Her tennis career officially began.

The 10 years that Zheng Qinwen grew up in were also the 10 years when the professional training of Chinese tennis players began to take shape.

Zheng Qinwen, Yuan Yue, Wang Xinyu, Wang Xiyu, Zheng Saisai, Zhang Shuai, Zhang Zhizhen, and other Chinese athletes born in the 1990s and 2000s who have been active in the global tennis world in recent years all experienced their teenage years in the past decade. They have more or less borrowed from and want to replicate the success of Li Na and others.

When a large number of athletes left the sports school model, formed professional teams as individuals, and really entered the international arena and began to achieve results, China's tennis training model began to undergo more fundamental changes.

However, such a model is almost synonymous with high economic costs.

At the tennis school in Beijing, Zheng Qinwen has his own coaching team, and even a dedicated fitness trainer and nutritionist. The more refined and professional the training becomes, the greater the expenses. Tuition fees, coaching fees, and travel expenses for competitions easily amount to millions of yuan a year. The bulk of these expenses fall on Zheng Qinwen's family.

Like almost any athlete who became famous at a young age on the professional path, Zheng Qinwen's growth process is inseparable from the support of his family. According to the "Sports Weekly", Zheng Jianping worked hard to run a business and sold some of his family property. At one time, there were few decent home appliances in the family. In order for her daughter to practice basketball with peace of mind, her mother Deng Fang resigned from her job and stayed at home to better take care of her daughter's diet and daily life. The grandmother, who has reached retirement age, also comes to help Deng Fang from time to time and take care of Zheng Qinwen together.

But Zheng Qinwen is very lucky.

At the beginning of her career, she has gained the "favor" of international giants in the industry. This not only allowed her to gain some of the most direct financial support, but also allowed her to have a more systematic plan for her career.

According to the report of China Business News, in 2013, Zheng Qinwen went to the IMG Academy in Florida, USA to compete and train, and she made a great success in the competition. This also made IMG, the world's largest sports agency behind this cradle of champions, which has signed Federer, Nadal, Serena Williams and Li Na, decide to sign the 11-year-old Zheng Qinwen immediately.

"When she participated in the IMG International Competition for the first time, she was not like a child participating in such a level of competition for the first time. She was not at all nervous and refused to admit defeat." Marion Barr, vice president of IMG's tennis business unit, was deeply impressed by Zheng Qinwen's youth. "All the coaches came to tell me that the Chinese girl was really great."

IMG, the invisible giant in the sports world, has abundant resources in event operations and is also adept at creating superstars.

With the introduction of IMG, Zheng Qinwen was sponsored by the American sports giant Nike at the age of 13. Subsequently, the world's top sponsors such as Wilson and Ant Group also entered the sponsor matrix of Zheng Qinwen, who has not yet won a Grand Slam trophy in the tennis commercial tour, under the operation of this agency.

It is worth mentioning that whether it is the family, agency or commercial brands pouring resources into Zheng Qinwen, a key background is that tennis itself is one of the sports with the most mature commercial system.

Tennis has an undoubted influence on a global scale. The four Grand Slam tournaments in tennis (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) and other important international events such as the WTA Tour all offer generous prize money. For example, the 2024 Australian Open officially kicked off on January 14, and the prize money for this year's Australian Open broke the historical record, reaching 86.5 million Australian dollars (about 402 million yuan).

In China, the number of people participating in tennis has also reached a considerable level. According to the 2021 Global Tennis Report released by the International Tennis Federation, there were 87.18 million people participating in tennis in 2021. China ranked second in the world with 19.92 million people, second only to the United States, accounting for 22.9% of the world's total tennis population. At the same time, the number of tennis courts in China is also the second in the world, reaching 49,767. Tennis coaches ranked fifth in the world with 11,350 people.

However, due to the huge population base, tennis in China is still a niche sport. However, because of this, the Chinese tennis market has the potential for rapid growth. In addition, it is also labeled as a kind of "middle-class sport". Together with its matching clothing, it is also labeled as fashionable.

Zheng Qinwen's fashion blockbuster Photo source: Harper's Bazaar

After Zheng Qinwen won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, there is reason to believe that the popularity of tennis in China will be further boosted, and Zheng Qinwen, who has caused a stir this time, will also take advantage of the opportunity to become the new "advertising queen" in the Chinese sports world.

This judgment is of course partly based on Zheng Qinwen’s latest achievement - China’s first Olympic champion in singles tennis.

Although globally, the Olympic tennis event does not receive as much attention as the Grand Slam events, this time may be different in China - the national attention to the Olympics and the significance of playing for national honor behind the gold medal have made Zheng Qinwen's success more nationally recognized.

At the same time, Zheng Qinwen has long been a "hot commodity" in the eyes of brand owners, and has long been an advertising star without relying on titles such as Olympic champion.

Moreover, many consumers can also feel from the "bombardment" of various Paris Olympic Games pre-game advertisements that these brands are not limited to sporting goods retailers, but also cover a wider range of fields such as catering, luxury goods, and financial services.

"The changing cycle of the commercial value of tennis players is mainly determined by their performance in Grand Slam events and their global rankings. Before the Paris Olympics, Zheng Qinwen had already won the runner-up in the 2024 Australian Open and entered the top 10 in the world, becoming the number one player in Chinese women's tennis." Liu Yufan, vice president of sports marketing at Ogilvy Public Relations, was not surprised that brands were optimistic about Zheng Qinwen before the game. "For brands, she has already entered the initial screening vision of brand sponsorship targets."

In May 2024, Zheng Qinwen became the "health ambassador" of the new tea brand Bawang Cha Ji. Bawang Cha Ji responded to Jiemian News after she won the championship, saying that the brand had assembled Liu Xiang, Wang Shun, Zheng Qinwen, Chen Qingchen, Jia Yifan, Liu Qingyi and many other world-class athletes to form the Bawang Cha Ji Health Ambassador Group at the Paris Olympics, and said that this reflects "the new tea brand's emphasis on Olympic marketing and market insight."

Zheng Qinwen endorses tea drinks. Image source: Weibo @郑秦文Ana

Yili, a dairy giant and frequent sports marketer, took action earlier. It signed a contract with Zheng Qinwen in 2022 and stated that Yili "has a deep insight and advanced layout" into Zheng Qinwen's career.

In a pre-Olympic market cooperation and investment promotion plan of the Chinese Tennis Association obtained by Jiemian News, Zheng Qinwen was also placed in the center of the page showing active key players. According to the document, the threshold for obtaining the title of "top strategic partner" of the Chinese Tennis Association and "package" sponsorship of Zheng Qinwen is as high as 30 million yuan per year.

Whether it is Bawang Cha Ji, Yili, or other brands participating in the above sponsorship plan of the China Tennis Association, many of them are "betting" - until the last moment of the crucial game, no one can predict the outcome, nor can they predict the events on the court, and no one knows whether this sponsorship will reap any kind of communication effect. Spending money is a gamble.

"Brand sponsorship marketing for sports can be divided into several categories," Liu Yufan explained. "For example, there are those who have been committed to sports sponsorship for a long time, such as sports apparel brands, fast-moving consumer goods beverages, IT brands, etc.; there is also a category of brands that use sports sponsorship as a means of event marketing, and when international events that attract global attention occur, brands create brand awareness through sports sponsorship."

Of course, brands are willing to bet on this because once an athlete becomes famous, their commercial value and sponsorship offers tend to rise. Being the first to sign a contract means seizing the market opportunity.

But what many people tend to overlook is that these betting behaviors actually constitute the key increase in the commercial value of athletes.

Judging from the brands that bet on Gu Ailing and Zheng Qinwen before the Olympics, these brands were often in their rising period at the time and were willing to spend a large budget to create a buzz - for example, Luckin Coffee and Yuanqi Forest that bet on Gu Ailing, and Zheng Qinwen's Bawang Cha Ji.

These brands themselves are topical and have a certain degree of national popularity. Athletes with potential to "explode" can also rely on these brands to further break out of the circle and increase their own popularity.

As for Zheng Qinwen, under the operation of the IMG team, she has long cooperated with luxury brands such as Rolex, Balenciaga, Nike and top sports brands to set the tone for her worth and image. When the Olympics, the world's largest sports marketing event, comes, Zheng Qinwen will reap direct economic benefits from those brands that bet on her, as well as high-frequency mass communication in China.

But why do brands spend a lot of money to bet on Zheng Qinwen? Is it just because of her outstanding athletic performance?

In Liu Yufan's opinion, there are several main dimensions that brands consider when choosing sports spokespersons: first, whether the spokesperson matches the brand's current development demands and brand spiritual goals; second, whether the athlete's individual temperament can impress core consumers, for example, whether the post-00s can like him or her; third, the athlete's growth potential; and fourth, the athlete's sponsorship risks, such as negative comments outside the stadium, injury problems, etc., which will also fall into the scope of commercial value considerations.

Zheng Qinwen at the Olympic Games. Image source: Weibo @郑秦文Ana

The commercial value of an athlete is not only determined by the athlete's performance, but also by the popularity of the sport, personal image, and topicality. In addition to their competitive level, the personality and stories behind the new generation of athletes are also displayed to a greater extent on social networks. They not only gain attention through sports events, but also gain popularity in other fields in an entertaining way. When their influence goes beyond the single sports circle, it also provides more options for brand cooperation.

An international vision, confident expression, and a stylish and elegant appearance, as well as strength, IQ, and EQ, are the core elements that some luxury brands take into consideration when observing Zheng Qinwen.

Undisguised ambition is an important part of the charm of sports superstars.

Just like the wave of "tough talk"-style ads that Nike launched on the eve of this year's Olympics, the world's top athletes' extremely confident qualities are clearly revealed, such as Kobe's "Not everyone can be a winner" and French basketball player Victor Wenbanyama's "My opponent's dream ends with me", etc.

"Queen Wen" is the most prominent label on Zheng Qinwen.

After winning the Olympic gold medal, Zheng Qinwen was asked by a reporter, "Is Queen Wen the real Queen Wen?" She did not hide her "feeling of deservingness" and replied, "The term Queen Wen is well deserved."

Audiences who followed the game also discovered that when Zheng Qinwen faced impolite interference from the stands on the court, she also had the "queen behavior" of decisively fighting back like Li Na.

Even when faced with unfriendly remarks from competitors, she responded directly and never engaged in internal conflicts.

In the women's singles quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics, which ended on July 30, Zheng Qinwen defeated American player Navarro 2-1. But in the post-match interview, Navarro not only congratulated Zheng Qinwen, but also bluntly stated, "I don't respect her as a competitor. Because I think the way she handles things is quite cruel, which makes her not have much friendship in the locker room."

Zheng Qinwen didn't care about it and showed the strong confidence of a winner. "She said she didn't understand why I had so many fans. It seemed that she was very dissatisfied with some of my actions towards her. If she was dissatisfied with my behavior, she could tell me directly. I want to correct my mistakes and become a better player and a better person. I am very happy that she told me this. I will not think it is an attack because she lost the game."

"Zheng Qinwen is a textbook spokesperson," Hu Ruoxin, deputy general manager of Beijing Shangcheng Tongli Brand Management Co., Ltd., wrote on WeChat Moments after observing her series of interviews before and after the game.

She summarized several characteristics of Zheng Qinwen's speech as follows: details and stories, opinions and attitudes, structure and inspiration, assertions and golden sentences, no catchphrases and no accent.

These interviews are also the personality profiles that brands dream of when exploring the characteristics of their spokespersons.

"Zheng Qinwen is very confident and has her own content system framework. She dares to expose herself, so there is a lot of content space left for brands." Hu Ruoxin told Jiemian News that her authenticity and sense of sophistication lie in her opinions not only on sports but also on life. In addition to the Chinese market, there will be a lot of value in the international market.

Liu Yufan believes that Zheng Qinwen and Gu Ailing have similar growth experiences, such as individual sports, beautiful girls and international teams. However, the image creation of the two is different. Gu Ailing has diversified development and has the labels of "champion", "academic master" and "entertainment", while Zheng Qinwen is more focused on "professional", "counterattack" and "dream chasing".

Zheng Qinwen's sports category advertisement Image source: Weibo @郑秦文Ana

Zheng Qinwen is likely to have higher commercial value than Gu Ailing.

According to the aforementioned Forbes list data, Gu Ailing is the second highest-earning female athlete in the world, and her commercial value will reach approximately 157 million yuan in 2023, which is three times that of Zheng Qinwen.

Obviously, compared with Gu Ailing, Zheng Qinwen's competitive event is more mainstream, "evergreen", and the athletes generally have a longer career life. In such an event, Zheng Qinwen is still young enough - she is only 21 years old this year. Youth brings endless possibilities.

One proof is that since Forbes launched the ranking in 2008, all the top positions have been occupied by female tennis players - Sharapova once won the championship for 8 consecutive years, then Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, and the 2023 champion was the Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek, who Zheng Qinwen defeated in the singles semi-finals of the Paris Olympics. In fact, in this ranking in 2023, 9 of the top 10 are female tennis players.

"When I saw those predecessors making history, I always dreamed of becoming one of them one day. I remember during the 2004 Olympics, Liu Xiang said he would never forget the year he was 21 years old. Now, I am standing here, 21 years old. This feeling is incredible," said Zheng Qinwen.

If Li Na was considered a late bloomer as she won her first Grand Slam title at the age of 29 and became the oldest Australian Open singles champion at the age of 32, then Zheng Qinwen was considered a young and promising person as he reached the Australian Open final at the age of 21 and won the Olympic singles title. He has a bright future in the foreseeable future.

"Zheng Qinwen's current commercial monetization ability is not as good as Li Na's back then, but she is only 21 years old and it is very likely that she will achieve good results again. It is just a matter of time." Liu Yufan told Interface News.

Two days after winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, Zheng Qinwen appeared in an interview arranged by her sponsor Nike, wearing fashionable clothes, looking energetic and saying many golden sentences. And then she will rush to the next stop of the business tour without stopping.

Maybe Zheng Qinwen may not win the next game, but this will not affect her becoming the new "spokesperson" of Chinese tennis in the next ten years or even longer.