China serves plan for competitive tennis ecosystem

HONG KONG (Agencies): China has unveiled a detailed plan to build and implement a tennis ecosystem, from boosting the number of top professional players and creating Chinese tournament brands to expanding the availability of courts and infrastructure across the country. In a document released on Wednesday night, China’s official sporting body said it would encourage cities, businesses, schools and villages to “vigorously develop tennis” and build a new training system to develop top talent. The document said China would strive to “cultivate more than 10 high-level professional players (ranked in the top 100 in the world) and more than 100 professional players and coaches active in international competitions”. China has seen growing enthusiasm for tennis since Zheng Qinwen, 22, became the first Chinese player to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal at the Paris Olympics last year. Chinese tennis players have also become more visible at Grand Slam tournaments and on the ATP tour, including Zhang Shuai, Zhang Zhizhen and Wu Yibing. Chine aims to establish 10 “strong tennis provinces” and “100 strong tennis cities” with youth training centres and tens of thousands of youth tennis clubs, the document said. China will strengthen the “tennis tournament economy” to expand the flow of tennis tournaments and drive the growth of tennis consumption, as well as promoting tennis leisure and tourism routes. It called for “deepening the integration of tennis tournaments and urban development to drive local economic development”, the sale of tennis themed cultural and creative products.