With injuries and early exits resulting in a disappointing French
Open performance, China's national team head coach Jiang Hongwei
has warned the players must snap out of their funk if they want to
keep the Olympic dream alive.
"If we cannot overcome the current bottleneck on the tour, we
will have problems preparing for the Beijing Olympics," Jiang told
Xinhua News Agency after none of the players made it past the third
round. "Our women's players haven't make any major improvement this
year and I haven't seen the breakthrough that I expected at the
beginning of year."
Despite entering the tournament with high expectations, Chinese
players didn't show the form that thrust them into center stage
last year. Sixteenth seed Li Na matched her personal best on clay
with a third round loss to Sybille Bammer of Austria while Zheng
Jie, who made it into the fourth round in 2004, stumbled in the
first round to Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland.
The bad run continued when doubles hotshots Zheng and Yan Zi
lost to Spanish pair Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez
Sanchez in the first round.
Injuries didn't help matters, as Zheng's painful left ankle
almost made her withdraw from the doubles just like Peng Shuai, the
original 30th seed, who pulled out of the tournament with a similar
ankle injury that she suffered at the Berlin Open three weeks
ago.
Jiang, however, said injury is not the only reason for the
setback.
"It is partly due to the injuries, but I think it is more of a
mental problem as their desire is not as great as last year.
Women's doubles should be our advantage on the Tour, but now our
edge has almost disappeared," he said. "The team is a bit low right
now, they need some encouragement and to get back the determination
they had.
"We did make some improvements in technique but we also want to
strengthen the mental things. There is still a gap mentally with
the foreign players."
Coming into the French Open with two first round exits on the
clay, Zheng intended to quit the tournament after the singles loss
but was reportedly forced to play doubles by Jiang. Media reported
the team would not let players rest as the Olympic Rankings Points
takes effect on June 9, something that was denied by Chinese tennis
officials.
"We didn't force anybody," said Xie Miqing, spokeswoman of
China's Administrative Center of Tennis. "Her injury was not too
bad to miss the doubles. It's an old injury and doctors said she
doesn't need surgery, so we will rest her for a few days.
"We will later decide whether to bring her to London for
Wimbledon later this month."
Last year was the career's best for many of the players as they
climbed up the rankings and won Grand Slam titles. But this year
has been a let-down, with injuries and a general loss of form
striking the camp.
Jiang admitted injury is becoming a thorny problem for his
squad.
"This is the first time we've met with such problems and we are
talking with experts about solutions," he said. "China is still a
pro tour rookie and it joined the WTA just four years ago.
"This is obviously urgent as we don't have too much time before
the Olympics."
Zheng and Yan, the winners of the Australian Open and Wimbledon
doubles last year, have had some modest performances after a
stellar 2006 season, winning only the Family Circle Cup in
Charleston. They have lost to Taipei rivals Chan Yung-jan and
Chuang Chia-jung three consecutive times and slipped to No 6 and 7
from 3 and 4 in the Doubles Rankings.
The 21-year-old Peng, who has bounced back after a disappointing
2006 following the appointment of Michael Chang as her new coach,
is likely to miss the whole clay and grass season due to the left
ankle injury.
It will also affect her new doubles partner Sun Tiantian, one
half of the gold medal-winning pair at the Athens Olympics.
Chinese squad is now in England for their first grass tournament
this season in Birmingham, which takes place on June 11.
(China Daily June 6, 2007)
