French Open: More Chinese athletes pursuing tennis careers

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Europe

02:11

The French Open women's singles draw includes five players from China, with even more featuring in the three doubles events. And as the action begins at Roland Garros, many tennis experts are confident those numbers will increase in the next decade. CGTN's Oliver Whitfield-Miocic reports from Paris.

The French Open is one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world. Historically, the sport has been dominated by players from Europe and America. But Maria Sharapova's former agent believes that we're going to see more Chinese athletes picking up a racket professionally.

MAX EISENBUD LONGTIME SPORTS AGENT "I think eventually you are going to start to see close to about 10 players in the top 100. That might be in another eight to 10 years."

China has four female tennis pros ranked in the Top 100 right now. Zhu Lin, who is currently 108th, also thinks there will be more professional players from her country. She puts it down to the rising popularity of the sport in China.

ZHU LIN PREPARING FOR FRENCH OPEN "Especially now in high schools and the universities, yeah, there are lots of tennis classes now."

So far, only one Chinese star has ever won Grand Slam events.

OLIVER WHITFIELD-MIOCIC PARIS "It was here at Roland Garros that Li Na took the women's singles title in 2011. Three years later, she came out on top at the Australian Open, opening up lucrative endorsement deals."

Watchmaker Rolex and sportswear brand Nike both used Li in advertisements. And brands are still eager to use Chinese players to market their products.

MAX EISENBUD IMG TENNIS VICE PRESIDENT "Brands want to, especially Western brands, want to play in China. It's an important market for everybody. So using a Chinese athlete to help their brand image is a great strategy and something that I think worked for Li Na."

In 2007, the Chinese government started a program called Swing for the Stars to train more junior players, and it looks like it's paying off. If the predictions are correct, then tennis tournaments like the French Open will be welcoming more Chinese players in the years ahead. Oliver Whitfield-Miocic, CGTN, Paris.