Despite a three-year absence of top-tier tournaments, appetite for the game remains strong with China’s men on the rise
On a searing Wednesday at Kooyong, groundbreaking Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen had dual-Wimbledon champion Andy Murray sweating despite the charming surroundings. In the time it took for one train on the Glen Waverley line to depart the adjoining station and the next to arrive, Zhang had swept the first five games of the exhibition match.
A five-time Australian Open finalist, Murray is a popular figure in Melbourne. But as the first Chinese man to play Wimbledon, Zhang also had his share of fans prepared to bake in the sunshine at the traditional home of Australian tennis to watch their hero.