Dignified defeat
Zheng Jie's dramatic Wimbledon run is over.
It's almost two in the morning in Beijing and I've just watched her lose her semi-final against Serena Williams (one of the commentators on Beijing local TV calls Serena Williams "Xiao Wei" - "little sister". Serena's older sister Venus gets the name "Da Wei" - "big sister".)
There was plenty of excitement as the game began...
"Zheng Jie should strengthen her serve," one summariser offered drily as a tip (turned out to be a pretty good bit of advice).
A reporter on a mobile phone from Wimbledon said that Zheng Jie had been seen smiling during pre-match practice - this was generally interpreted as a positive sign.
But the smile didn't help all that much. The first set was pretty one-sided - though we did hear someone shout the Chinese word "Jiayou" ("Go!") from the crowd.
The Chinese commentators tried to make the most of it.
"Zheng Jie has already surpassed expectations in this tournament," one of them said reassuringly.
The second set had some much better moments for Zheng Jie (so much so that the Chinese friend I was watching with jumped off the couch with excitement at various points).
"She has a tough mind," said the commentator proudly.
In the end, Zheng Jie lost in a second set tie-break. Not sure how many Chinese managed to stay awake to see it (the curse of the seven-hour time difference with London).
Zheng Jie's run at Wimbledon has taken this country by surprise. She wasn't chosen as one of the faces of the Beijing Olympic Games. Wherever you go in Beijing you see posters or billboards of divers, ping-pong players, and basketball players modelling clothes or sunglasses or licking ice creams. But no Zheng Jie.
The Olympic sponsors may now have to redo their adverts.
I’m 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~02~RS~)
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She can still compete for the third place.
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Good luck Zheng Jie! losing to Serena is no defeat. You have achieved a victory beyond the expectation of your government and the outside world.
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Zheng Zie was a breath of fresh air. She played with a quite passion and humility. Once she realised she could compete she stepped her game up several notches. If it wasn't for Williams' serve I think Zheng would have won. If she played Venus I think she would have beaten her and set up a far more interesting final. I for one wont be watching on Saturday.
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what a game! whoo ya!
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well, I am a chinese in UK now. I watched the game from the second set because I don't think she will win although I hoped I was wrong. anyway, she has done very well, semi-finial has been a big surprise for us. I believe the biggest effect given by her is that tennis will bring more chinese's attention. thanks and congratuation to her!
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tried to make the most out of it...
i thought this is something confined to the British TV, with english football team, olympic performance etc etc...
btw, xiao wei translates as little williams
da wei translates as big williams
hey, brush up your chinese pls.
:)
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A little nickpicking first, Wei is the Chinese shorthand for Williams(Wei Lian Mu Si), so Da Wei and Xiao Wei mean Big(older) Williams and Little(younger) Williams, respectively.
I don't think that many Chinese people who follow tennis actually held much hope that she would beat Serena, certainly nowhere nearly as many as the number of British fans who believed Andy Murray would beat Nadal and Federer to win it all, including himself ;) But I'm sure Zheng Jie will come back. She's still pretty young and still got room to improve. With a better draw, she's got a realistic chance of reaching a GS final or even win it. One can hope, can't one?
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Jie Zheng's, as well as many Chinese, victories were so treasured in China because in the days of foreign domination one of the nicknames of China was "the sick man of East Asia". But in a way the Chinese enthusiasm was rather comparable to that of the British as they celebrated Andy Murry's successes. Under Mao everybody knew athletes were groomed in privileged environment. The fact that talents such as Zheng can come off without official support is a demonstration that China has changed.
By the way, "Da Wei" and "Xiao Wei" refer to big and little Williams, rather than sisters.
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Trying is not playing.
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Based on my knowledge of the Chinese language, "Xiao Wei" does not mean "little sister" and "Da Wei" does not mean "big sister" either as stated in the article.
Rather, "Xiao Mei" and "Da Jie" mean "little sister" and "big sister", respectively.
I would guess that "Wei" is a short form Chinese pronounciation for "Williams".
I always wonder if the writter speaks Chinese, and if yes to what extent.
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A sad reality is that Zheng will never fly to the very top. We all know why: her serve and receive are second-class, limited by her size. Any world class player can hammer her on any given day solely by serving before she could even has a slight chance to go deeper into her game.
Nonetheless, she indeed can play top-class groundstroke rallies and good at volleys when in form. These alone won't make a Champion.
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It was the first time for me to watch women's tennis. Just like to add one more observation:
I think Serena's 2nd. set was COMPLETELY outclassed by Zheng, in both rally and game plan. It is a shame that none of BBC's "pundits" has guts to admit that. In my view, it was ONLY Serena's first serve which saved her from lossing. I watched Senera play for the first time and it was a big disappointment.
On top on this edgy 2nd. set, Serena was fake and ironic in her post-match interview talking about Zheng: "... It was always fun to play such a player. She played as if she has nothing to loss, which she hasn't."
-Nothing to loss, true, but with manners in post-match talking. And I fail to see it was a "fun" at all for her. It was indeed painful if you watch the tape again.
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Tennis is not a big sport in China (just see the number of posting here, much smaller than other issues). Even in the US where tennis is much more popular than in China, the coverage of tennis is very limited compared to the popular baseball, football, and basketball games. So no surprise that Zheng is not “chosen” as one of the faces for the Bejing Olympic Games. I guess one can say there is a political reason behind it but it can also be over-interpreting the reality.
Why can’t people just let the athletes be themselves? Most of them play for the sports they love. If their victories make their countrymen proud, so be it. On the other hand, those countrymen who are extremely proud of the winners, stop painting the athletes’ achievements as “for the country, for the government, for the people”.
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James:
Zheng,
she should be very proud of herself...
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