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Jason Dasey

When Zheng Jie and Li Na joined other members of China's national tennis team for a training programme at the Shanghai Racquet Club less than four years ago, organisers struggled to attract spectators. Even the presence of Athens doubles gold medallists Sun Tiantian and Li Ting created only moderate interest among members.

But now, Zheng and Li are household names and national symbols of inspiration in the wake their semi-final appearances at last week's Australian Open.

From Shanghai to Shenzhen and from Hong Kong to Harbin, tennis is enjoying a surge in popularity as administrators and coaches scramble to keep up, with extra players signing up for tournaments and tuition in the days after the year's first grand slam.

'The impact is already being felt with more kids coming for training and more professional players inquiring as well,' said Choi Hee-june, director of Mission Hills Tennis Academy, near Shenzhen. 'For almost two weeks, Li and Zheng's performances were on the news constantly and that's attracted many more starters.'

The end of the Australian Open coincided with the deadline for entries for the Hong Kong National Junior Championships, which were one-fifth higher than 2009.

'When players from China or of Chinese descent achieve honours in tennis, we see a big increase in interest in training programmes and tournament participation,' said Janet Hardisty, general manager of the Hong Kong Tennis Association (HKTA).

After the breakthrough 2004 Olympic gold medal, Chinese tennis received several boosts to aid its development including Zheng Jie's and Yan Zi's doubles titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006, Zheng's run to the 2008 Wimbledon semi-finals and a good overall performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But to have two of its own reaching the last four of the same grand slam tournament takes China into exciting yet unfamiliar territory. Not even the greatest sceptics can call this is a one-off. And with Li and Zheng both in the top-20 rankings, China now has the same number of players in the elite WTA bracket as the United States and more than France and Serbia.

'Two Chinese successes in singles has made us all believe that playing at grand slam level is an achievable goal,' said Choi, ex-coach of Yan Zi.

And as well as their solid serves and power-packed ground strokes during matches, both women have also become more polished performers off the court, according to Conrad Singh, director of the Shanghai Elite Training Academy (Seta).

'When I interviewed them for members of the Shanghai Racquet Club a few years ago, I remember the team manager being very concerned that they hadn't done this type of PR before,' Singh said. 'But to now hear the players confidently speaking to fans and commentators is a real development, highlighting the importance of their impact in women's tennis.'

Singh recalls the event at the Shanghai Racquet Club in April 2006 when Chinese players still lagged behind foreign stars in pulling power.

'We really had to promote it to get people to attend,' he said. 'But during the 2010 Australian Open, the club was buzzing with excitement about the Chinese girls and when Li Na beat Venus many people were watching the match and cheering.'

Ray Kelly, HKTA director of coaching and development, added that China's performance at Melbourne Park proved to others that grand slam success was possible with the right combination of hard work and instruction.

'These results very much offer other players in the women's and even the men's that 'It can be done',' Kelly said. 'There is a very good chance that others can now see what is possible and it should give them a good boost of enthusiasm.'

Most coaches agree that having China's men go even close to matching the women's achievements will take a long time. But players like Chinese number-two and world number-538 Gong Maoxin, who produced a brave performance before losing to two-time grand slam winner Marat Safin in the Shanghai ATP 1000 last October, have the chance to become pioneers.

'Gong put in a great effort and had some chances to go ahead and take the first set,' Conrad Singh said. 'When talking to him afterwards, he made it clear that if the Chinese women can do it, the men can too.

Singh added that the level of coach education in China must improve and there needs to be a more unified talent identification system so the best players can be brought together.

Choi agrees that developing a male star, as other Asian nations like Japan, Thailand and South Korea have done, would help take tennis in China to the next level. Choi is a former coach of Korea's Lee Hyung-taik, an ATP tournament winner and former world number-36.

But as for the women, Choi predicts that they will continue to go from strength to strength.

'Just as the Russians have dominated, I believe we are going to have five or six Chinese women in the WTA top-10 in 10 years time,' he said.

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