What a difference a passport makes. Imagine this tennis scenario: Serena and Venus Williams will not be participating in Wimbledon next year as they will be joining a large training camp back home where they will be preparing for an inter-state tournament in which they hope to bring glory to their native California in the US national games. After this tournament all the focus will be on the Olympics in 2008, and paying back their motherland for all its support by winning gold. They will be coached and micro-managed by cadres appointed by the Bush administration, many of whom have little or no experience in the world of top-flight tennis. About 75 per cent of their earning will be handed back over to the state of California or the national government. And as the officials suspect the chances of the sisters taking gold in doubles is greater than in singles, they will be strongly encouraged to put the nation's needs in front of their individual desires and focus on the doubles game. After training they are required to take classes designed to strengthen their patriotic zeal, a programme that requires detailed study of President Bush's key addresses. It would be difficult to imagine the star sisters going for this kind of deal, but they were born in a different sporting world to the one the likes of Peng Shuai, Li Na and Zheng Jie come from. China's tennis starlets have emerged from the national sports system, where promising kids play in the grassroot amateur schools; the most talented move up to the provincial level where they are nurtured and pitted against the country's best in the inter-provincial competitions, and the top players in these games are brought into the national team set-up. In this community they don't have to think - their dormitory accommodation, their meals, training, endorsement deals, the tournaments they play, the interviews they give - everything is controlled by the sports administration. Tennis has rocketed up the priority list in China since Sun Tiantian and Li Ting won double's gold in Athens, and the government has pumped additionally investment into the system recently, identifying the game as a strong medal opportunity in 2008. Most of the athletes who come through the system don't make it big, of course, but for those who do China has particular expectations. For one, they should never forget their roots and always come back to represent their province in the national events. Secondly, representing China and bringing medal glory to the mainland always must be the sporting priority. In addition, a large percentage of the athlete's earnings should be handed back to the system in acknowledgement of the nation's long-term investment in them from an early age. In many sports this system works smoothly for China, but tennis, with its individualistic nature, is proving problematic since three of its women players broke into the top 50 in the world rankings. For the young stars, Olympics is not the be all and end all, despite what they may be told in indoctrination classes - they have their sights set on the four majors and the international circuit. Stars like Peng Shuai and Li Na have done training stints in the US and they are becoming increasingly frustrated when they are hauled back to China to take part in a team camp, often with inferior coaches leading the way. The group training sessions don't benefit the better players, they say, and the regimented management approach tends to adopt an old-style focus on mistakes and weaknesses. Peng (pictured), who celebrated her 20th birthday last week, is fed up with it and she wants to leave the national set-up, recently asking the Chinese Tennis Association to lend her financial support so she could turn professional. When she heard the young star's request, association director Sun Jinfang flew into a rage. She was quoted in the state media as saying: 'I said fine, but first you have to sign a promise that you will win gold at the Olympics?' suggesting that if she failed to win the tournament she would have to repay a large sum of money. 'Our budget is completely aimed at the 2008 Games. Who could agree to letting you give up your Olympic duties to go professional?' She wants her young players back training in China and plans to 'inspire them to want to pay back the motherland for raising them'. It's a clash of generations and sporting cultures. Sun was a high-profile volleyball player on the highly successful national team in the 1980s. For her there could be no greater joy than representing China at the Olympics, but that's not necessarily the way the emerging tennis stars see things. Xie Miqing, deputy director of the tennis administration, says that despite Peng's request and occasional public outbursts, she believes the world number 36 will stay within the state system. 'But what Peng Shuai wants and expects is different to what we expect,' she admitted. 'We have been looking after her since she was eight or nine, each year spending US$100,000 to US$150,000 on her. Now her training contract in the US is up, we want her to come back to the national system to make preparations for 2008.' She added they had recently recruited four foreign coaches 'and we think we can get the same results here'. Young athletes get high notions about themselves once they hit a winning patch, she said. 'When Peng was outside the top 200 she could not support herself and needed our help, but now she has climbed up to the 30s she wants to move away. I don't think it is possible she will leave. She has grown up with the benefit of the national system. She is very young now, but finally she will know what is more important to her.' She argues that the reason her young players are so famous is precisely because they are Chinese and come from within the national system. 'They should realise they are getting so much publicity because they are from China. We are a huge nation, we are hosting the next Olympics, the focus of the world is on us. Someone with the same ranking from a different country would not get nearly so much attention,' Xie said. In many ways, the players are trapped. Should any of them choose to break with the national team, they would likely be blacklisted by the Chinese tennis association, which would mean sponsors would run for the hills and the state media would ignore them. Their 'China advantage' would evaporate over night. Peng, in particular, has beaten some top names recently, including Elena Dementieva and US Open champion Kim Clijsters, who identified her as a true star in the making. 'She's the best player I've played in a long time. I think she can definitely become top three,' she said. If she is to tackle the top echelons she will have to work the circuit, and play the likes of Clijsters and the Williams sisters week in week out, instead of promising young doubles players from Henan or Heilongjiang. Then Peng, Li Na and others could potentially pose a serious challenge for the four majors - something that would really bring glory to the motherland.