zhang shuai ended her 24-game losing streak in beijing, and ma long's words inspired her to keep moving forward
2024-09-26
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at the china open, where she won her first tournament in her career, zhang shuai ended her 24-game losing streak. photo/xinhua news agency
after returning to beijing, zhang shuai regained the feeling of winning.
in the first round of the women's singles of the china open that ended on september 25, zhang shuai defeated american player kessler 2-0, ending her 24-game losing streak in singles and tasting victory again after 20 months.
in her career, zhang shuai had two long losing streaks, one was a 14-game losing streak in grand slams, and the other was an even longer 24-game losing streak. during this period, zhang shuai was shaken, but her love for tennis and her desire for victory made her persist.
after winning this long-awaited victory, zhang shuai said that it was particularly meaningful to end her losing streak at the china open, because it was here that she won her first tour victory 15 years ago. "i think an important reason why i haven't won is that i have to wait until this tournament and on this court to win."
not easy
i was also shaken. i waited for 604 days for this victory.
last year at the australian open, zhang shuai made it to the top 16 in women's singles and ranked 22nd in the world. but then, she suffered an unexpected injury, and her form and performance plummeted, and she continued to lose singles. in the indian wells tournament in march this year, zhang shuai lost to japanese player motodama makoto in the first round, suffering 18 consecutive defeats, breaking the record for the longest losing streak in the tour. after losing 1-2 to kruger in the first round of this year's us open, zhang shuai's singles losing streak reached 23 games. after the game, zhang shuai said frankly that she didn't know if this was her last grand slam singles match.
zhang shuai is no stranger to losing streaks. starting from the 2008 us open, she suffered 14 consecutive losses in grand slam tournaments. it was not until the 2016 australian open that zhang shuai made it to the main draw after playing in the qualifying rounds. she defeated world no. 2 halep in the first round and won her first grand slam main draw. she then made it to the women's singles quarterfinals and her career was back on track.
last week in seoul, zhang shuai lost to kudermetova in the first round, losing 24 games in a row and her world ranking dropped to 595th. her last singles win dates back to the first round of the lyon open in france on january 31, 2023, which was 604 days ago on september 25.
this long losing streak made zhang shuai a little shaken. during the us open, she once considered whether she had been eliminated from the tour, and even talked to her team about retirement, "when you work hard but don't get a good result, i don't know how many people in this world can continue to persevere?" although she was eliminated in the first round of singles, zhang shuai and french player mladenovic made it all the way to the finals in women's doubles. the grand slam runner-up made her determined to continue standing on the court.
zhang shuai celebrates scoring. the 35-year-old "young player" is back. photo/xinhua news agency
peers
learning from ma long, the "young general" still has passion
at the china open, zhang shuai received a valuable wild card for the women's singles main draw. her first-round opponent was american player kessler. although she missed a match point in the second set, zhang shuai still won the match 7-6 twice, winning a long-awaited victory.
at the moment of winning the game, zhang shuai looked very calm. when she was in a losing streak for more than a year, many opponents encouraged her, saying that she still had the ability and potential to win. "these encouragements supported me through the losing streak." during the interview, zhang shuai especially thanked the audience, who gave her super energy and finally won the game. "i haven't come back to play in 5 years. the last time was in 2019. after 5 years, i came back again. everyone knows that i am not young anymore. today i am not the young me, but i will still try my best and hope to show the best of me in front of my hometown fans."
at the 2009 china open, the 20-year-old zhang shuai defeated the then world no. 1 safina in the first round and won her first tour victory in her career. now she has ended her 24-game losing streak at the china open. zhang shuai joked that she had not won before, probably to make her wait until she wins on this meaningful court in beijing.
the coach sometimes joked that zhang shuai was a top 600 player (outside the world rankings) and was not qualified to participate in such a high-level competition. after winning, zhang shuai thanked the china open for the wild card and said, "i will work hard little by little to get my ranking back."
zhang shuai is 35 years old this year, the oldest among all the chinese golden flowers, and she is no longer young in the tour. but she has a good mentality and likes to be called "young player". zhang shuai said that she had seen an interview with the captain of the national table tennis team, ma long, and his words "as long as you have passion in your heart, you will always be in your prime years" have always inspired her to keep going. if she is not physically fit, she will practice, and if she has injuries, she will treat them. even at the age of 35, there is still room for improvement.
in the second round, zhang shuai will challenge no. 6 seed navarro. this will be the first time the two have faced each other.
sun haiguang, chief reporter of beijing news
editor: wang chunqiu
proofread by yang li
