Kiwi tennis star Lulu Sun on her Olympic hopes, that Wimbledon run and avoiding food nightmare in the Olympic Village.
By Michael Burgess in Paris
Lulu Sun is looking forward – but admits that the last month will never be forgotten – in what was a life-changing experience for the Kiwi tennis player.
Sun, who will be in action with Erin Routliffe at the Paris Olympics, isin a new orbit since her incredible run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals. That has been noticeable in Paris. Many other Kiwi athletes want to talk to her about what happened at SW19, while the media attention has been pronounced.
“It is kind of crazy how more and more people are being aware of my presence,” Sun told the Herald. “The support has been massive and I am super grateful to receive it”.
The world No 55 has spent the last few weeks in Bratislava, where Sun’s Slovakian coach is based. It was a good place to prepare for Paris and get away from the hype.
“At first it was a bit overwhelming because I am not used to it obviously,” says Sun. “I definitely didn’t think that tennis players were that busy. I thought that – yeah – I’m just going to finish my match and go home and recover.
“So getting more people noticing me, like you said it creates more pressure but I don’t think of pressure as a bad thing. You can take it both ways. I want to focus on my tennis and I want to improve as much as I can to be at the very top. So I took that as ‘I have this chance and I want to do everything that I can to be able to have no regrets.”
Lulu Sun celebrates her win against Emma Raducanu in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Photo / Photosport
The most impressive thing about Sun’s run was her ability to cope with the increasing heat; with each unlikely win there was more pressure but she kept believing, kept improving and kept performing.
“Being able to compete there and trying my best to go round by round and somehow ending up in the quarter-finals was incredible and I am super grateful to have that, even if it is history now. I will always keep it there.”
Sun arrived at Roehampton for her first-round qualifying match on June 25 buoyant, but will no expectations.
“Even before the draw was out I was thinking, ‘Okay, I don’t necessarily care who I play, I’m just going to go out there and give my 100%,” recalls Sun. “Last time I was close to qualifying so I already had the confidence – oh I can go far on grass... it’s just a matter of how focused I am and the intensity that I put into the matches.”
It worked. Then world No 123, she enjoyed a straight sets win, before a nail-biter the following day, where she was pushed to three sets by Czech world No 236 Gabriela Knutson, eventually prevailing 8-6 in a final set tiebreak. There was another tight battle in the final qualifying round, against a Filipino player ranked only 40 places below her but Sun squeezed through 7-6 (3) 7-5.
Then came her moment; the opening round match against the eighth seed and 2024 Australian Open finalist Zheng Qinwen. She dropped a tight first set 6-4, then was down 40-0 on her own serve, early in the second set. But she battled out of it before going on to win 4-6 6-2 6-4, in a true Sliding Doors moment.
“You have these matches in tennis where one match can change the career and you go further than if you didn’t win that match,” said Sun. “It was a super important match. Some people didn’t expect me to win, I mean obviously, she is top 10, she is a great player. Expectations were low but I really wanted to prove myself. I’ve played top 100 players before and I got close but I didn’t really pull through. So I really wanted to push through that, took it point by point and game by game.”
A three-set battle followed, before a tight 7-6 (4) 7-6 (6) victory over world No 61 Lin Zhu. Another flashpoint came the next day – as she defeated hometown hero Emma Raducanu before eventually being stopped by world No 37 Donna Vekic in a thriller.
Sun and Routliffe teamed up at the Billie Jean King Cup earlier this year and they have had some good sessions at Roland Garros. They are also spending plenty of time together off the court, sharing the small rooms in the Athlete village, while trying to avoid having too many snacks at the food court there.
“It’s my first Olympics and it’s with Erin,” said Sun. “It’s a good thing and she has a lot of knowledge and experience so I can learn from that. We have been preparing well and we will do our best…everybody wants to go for the medal so we are fighting against that.”
Hear it as it happens with live commentary of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on GOLD SPORT & iHeartRadio, plus comprehensive coverage on Newstalk ZB.
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics’, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
