At the 2018 Wimbledon Championships that ended on July 15, three teenager players from Chinese mainland have made outstanding performances by entering the semi-finals of Boy’s singles, Girls’ singles and taking down the champion of Girls’ doubles of the Junior events.

18-year-old, Mu Tao entered the semi-finals at Junior Boys’ singles of the 2018 Wimbledon Championships on July 12. Though one day later he was knocked out by Zeng Junxin from Chinese Taipei one day later, Mu still created the best performance by male teenager players of the Chinese mainland.

In Junior Girls’ singles, Wang Xinyu and Wang Xiyu, both 17 years old and both entered the semi-finals on July 12. Though they failed to advance to the finals, the two girls played together in the Girls’ doubles and won their way into the final before taking down the title in simply 44 minutes.

Different training and development mode has contributed a lot to the success of the three young players. Since 2013, Wang Xinyu began to spend two to three months training in Serbia every year. Mu has spent the past six months training with famous coaches and players at the tennis clubs in West Palm Springs of California in the US. Wang Xiyu joined the 1123 Tennis Club in Beijing when she was 12-years-old and started to train with foreign coaches and physical instructors. The club also began to send her to Spain for development in the past few years.

Both the US and Europe are good options for the development of tennis players thanks to more professional and scientific systems. “Competition here is tough. We play with various players from different countries and regions with all kinds of styles. It’s very helpful,” said Wang Xiyu.

In his interview with Tencent Sports, Mu said that his coach pointed out his disadvantage immediately after watching his training. Since then, Mu spent hours every day in the gym and was placed on a strict diet. He had to say goodbye to deep-fried food and sweet drinks while eating no more than fish, chicken and vegetables. Mu said he had never had such experience back at home.

Besides physical training, the three young players were also going international in other areas. During the 2018 tournament, many foreign media outlets were at the press conferences for them. All three answered every question in English.

“I believe they have the chance to achieve something, though probably through a difficult journey. These young players need smart plans and avoid getting hurt. Both are important to them,” said China’s former professional tennis player Li Na who has won seven WTA singles titles and two Grand Slam singles titles.