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Peng Pong Shuai bounces between tour, Chinese Olympics Peng: 'I really wanted to play Wimbledon'
Or not, if you want to be in complete control of your career, like Russian Elena Dementieva, who’s somewhat familiar with authoritarian states. "I think it's a very difficult situation," Dementieva said. "I think it's better to be independent in my case to have a choice what I want to play or if I want to play Olympic Games or whatever it is. I feel very happy to be free and not to take any advice or comments from my federation because tennis is an individual sport." Unless they want to defect, Peng and the rest of the Chinese team have no such choices. In fact, this year, three months of their playing opportunities on the second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour are null and void. The Chinese Olympics are held in three different months – March, June and October. All Chinese players must attend. That’s why Peng and the likes of Li Na and Zheng Jie missed Wimbledon. That’s why Peng’s 7-5, 6-4 upset third-seed Elena Dementieva in the second round of the Acura Classic on Tuesday was only her match since Roland Garros, when she nearly upset Lindsay Davenport. The second stage of the Chinese National Olympics, was held at the same time as Wimbledon. "I really wanted to play Wimbledon," said Peng, who plays for the province of Tian Jin. "But my team needed me. It was a difficult decision." Difficult for her level of tennis, yes, as she won every match at the Chinese Olympics in around 40 minutes, but not for her overall livelihood, given that the Chinese government funded her development. And, according to Peng’s coach, Alan Ma – who is based in Delray Beach – the Chinese Olympics are the biggest thing that that country has going on. "These decisions affect two billion people," he said. "It’s important to every province and Shaua’s province wants to win the games." So much so that tennis officials in Tian Jin went outside of the box and hired Ma to coach their players, even though he left China in 1980 when he came stateside to train for the Olympics. CHINESE CONTIGENT WILL MISS GUANGZHO OPEN Believe it or not, Ma says that Peng and the rest of China’s players will also miss the WTA Guangzhou Open in October. It’s hard to imagine what kind of attendance that tournament will have. By the way, Peng only has to pay 15 percent of her earnings to the national government because she doesn’t pay a national coach. Ma is paid by the tennis authorities in Tian Jin. Peng does have formidable game and is her nation’s most promising player. She’s a great mover with a tremendous backhand that impressed Dementieva. "She’s very aggressive and hits a heavy ball," Dementieva said. "She moves well and plays well from the baseline. I didn’t do that much wrong in the match, she just played the important points better." Other notable winners on the day included Sania Mirza, Nathalie Dechy, Jelena Jankovic, Akiko Morigami and top-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. In Washington, big serving Wesley Moodie upended Tim Henman 7-6, 7-5, while Andy Roddick scored a routine 6-3, 6-4 victory over Giovanni Lapentti . It was Henman's first tournament since Wimbledon. "He served well and has aggressive ground strokes," said Henman. "I didn't play badly tonight but ended up losing. Sometimes, that's the way it goes." Mark Philippoussis lost another match, this time to Luis Horna 7-5, 6-4. Robby Ginepri beat Kevin Kim 6-2, 6-3. |
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Cynthia
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