Switzerland, New Zealand and bungee jumping.. Who is Lulu Sun, the surprise of the Wimbledon quarter-finals?

I played for Switzerland

Lulu Sun was born Lulu Radovic on April 14, 2001 in Te Anau, a town in New Zealand located in the Southland region of the South Island. “There are more sheep and deer than people.” She announced at a press conference. But it took her a long time to represent her native country. After starting out in China in Shanghai, Sun, whose mother is Chinese (and she took his name) and father is Croatian, grew up in Switzerland, in Geneva, and so played for that country during her youth (13). In the world in February 2018 and reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 2019).

She chose to travel to the Kiwi nation in March after being welcomed by the Auckland fans in January as a local, and New Zealand made her a much higher offer than the Swiss, he said. the timeThis allowed her to enlist the services of Slovakian coach Vladimir Platnik, former coach of Cibulkova, Kasatkina and Kalinina. Thus, she divides her life between Slovakia and the United States. “I'm really happy to be immersed in so many different cultures and backgrounds. Sun will compete at the Paris Olympics in doubles with world No. 3 Erin Routliffe.

She is making New Zealand tennis history.

By beating Emma Raducanu (6-2, 5-7, 6-2) on Sunday, Lulu Sun became the first New Zealander in the Open Era to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. Outside the Open Era, Roya Morrison reached the last 16 at Wimbledon in 1957 and 1959. In a Grand Slam tournament, Jodie Challoner reached eighth at the 1979 Australian Open, and Belinda Cordwell did the same at the 1988 and 1989 Australian Opens, even reaching the semi-finals. Among men, the last New Zealander to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon was Chris Lewis, who reached the final in 1983.

She has never won a Grand Slam match.

There is nothing logical about Lulu Sun's journey to Wimbledon. Indeed, she had to save a match point in the second round of qualifying against Czech Gabriela Knutsson (4-6, 6-4, 7-6). [6]). And if she is ranked at the highest in her career, 123rd in the world, she has not yet won a single match in one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. She has played only one match this year at the Australian Open: a 6-1, 7-5 defeat to the Italian Elisabetta Cocchiaretto (66) after exiting the qualifiers.

Before this Wimbledon, her wins on the main circuit can be counted on the fingers of one hand: two in Seoul in September 2022, one in Auckland in January, and another in Dubai the following month. She already has that many players in a single tournament. In London, she also claimed her first top 10, beating Cheng Qinwen (eighth) in three sets (4-6, 6-2, 6-4). In case of defeat on Thursday, she would find herself in around 50th place.

It's very offensive.

Grass is his preferred surface, and his game is best expressed there. “I've watched a lot of Roger Federer's matches and also videos of Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova.” She announced. In 2022, in her first Grand Slam tournament, she reached the third round of qualifying. The 1.73m left-hander plays a very aggressive tennis and seeks to outplay her opponents, sometimes taking a lot of risks. In her four matches in the main draw, she has won a total of 162 matches, including 52 against Raducanu. She scores very regularly and has achieved great success: 78% of points won against Zheng Qinwen, 85% against Yulia Starodubtseva (23/27), 75% against Zhu Lin (15/20) and 82% against Raducanu (23/27). 28).

She loves reading and jumping rope.

Her French agent, Stephane Jorov, describes her as: “Very atypical.”“She doesn't necessarily like shiny things, she likes the things in life.” A graduate of international relations at the University of Texas, he has many passions. Already reading: Greek or Roman mythology, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, like psychology The art of jokes By Angela Duckworth. She also appreciates illustrator and comic book artist Kim Jong-gi and anime director Hayao Miyazaki.

Not far from her hometown is Queenstown, known as the adventure capital of the world. When she's back home, she goes bungee jumping and zip lining. She also loves wide open spaces and big spaces.