China is Looking for its First Male Star

Written by: Staff on 12th October 2010

China is Looking for its First Male Star

China-Captain Miao Cui, Zin Gao, Zhao Cai, Yuqing Ning |

China is the massive new frontier for the tennis world and money has been no object in creating top-flight stadia and securing high profile tournaments.

But while female players who can seriously contend for the big prizes have emerged on the WTA Tour, the wait is still on for the male star who might truly ignite the interest. So step forward Yan Bai.

The 21 year-old, unheralded except for a couple of titles on the Chinese Futures circuit and ranked 465 in the world, could become the homegrown star of the 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters after scoring an impressive win over the hugely experienced Radek Stepanek to set up a second round meeting with world no.4 Andy Murray.

Yan has jumped 277 places on the ATP World Tour rankings in the last month and will now go much higher after his 6-3,6-4 win over world no.30 Stepanek who will be a major factor in the Czech Republic team that faces Serbia in this year’s Davis Cup final.

“I think I gave a very relaxed performance and have no restrictions on myself so I can give my opponent a lot of pressure,” said Yan who admitted much of his early career has been affected by stomach problems he inherited from his parents. “This is my first time in a top-level tournament so this is really an unexpected performance for me.”

Yan showed no signs of being overawed by Stepanek so his meeting with Murray should be interesting, given the fact Murray’s two most recent defeats to Stanislas Wawrinka at the U.S. Open and Ivan Ljubicic at last week’s China Open in Beijing, were hugely disappointing displays.

“We in China have been watching him play since he came out,” said Yan. “He has been our model and we watched his games and his matches in both Grand Slams and the Masters series. He’s a talented player, much better than me. So I hope to learn from our match and it will be a good experience for me.”

Yan’s victory was of particular interest to Brad Drewett, chief executive of ATP International with special responsibilities for expansion in Asia. “One thing I often get asked in China, and have done for many years, is when will we see a truly great male player from here,” he said. “Obviously there’s been successes on the women’s side with Li Na who has been in the top ten and Zheng Jie. My answer about the men is it’s not a question of if, it’s a matter of when.

“The Chinese Tennis Association and our tournament director in Shanghai Leon Sun are working hard to develop the next generation of young male players. Programs here in China have developed significantly over the last five years and now there are many very good young junior players.

“I would hope in five to seven years, we will have some very significant players who are not just playing but competing well on the ATP World Tour. I’ve always tried not to predict numbers here in China but I know if that was to happen the growth would be exponential.”

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, Big Prizes, China Beijing, Davis Cup, Good Experience, Grand Slams, Ivan Ljubicic, Male Star, Masters Series, New Frontier, Radek Stepanek, S Davis, Stadia, Stanislas Wawrinka, Stomach Problems, Talented Player, Tennis World, Unexpected Performance, Wta Tour