Lulu Sun is the big surprise at Wimbledon. As a qualifier, she is now the first New Zealander to reach the quarter-finals. She could have done the same for Switzerland.
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- Lulu Sun decided to serve for New Zealand in March. She has now reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon as a qualifier.
- Sun: "I have discipline from my Chinese mother, my father comes from Croatia by the sea, from him I have a certain composure and calmness. And neutrality from Switzerland."
- In the quarter-finals, Sun (WTA 123) will face the unseeded Croatian Donna Vekic (WTA 37).
Lulu Sun only loses her cool during the winner's interview on Centre Court, the most famous tennis court in the world, which is packed with 15,000 spectators. When she is asked to talk about her feelings after her victory in the round of 16 against local hope Emma Raducanu, the 23-year-old barely makes a sound and repeatedly bursts into tears.
With such overwhelming - and new - emotions, even the Croatian blood in her veins, which she says gives her a certain composure, no longer helps. The subsequent media conference lasts as long as it usually does for top stars - and even then only after exceptional matches. Sun is in the international spotlight for the first time and has to explain her background again and again. That alone takes a while, because the left-hander is pure multiculturalism.
From New Zealand via China to Switzerland
Born in Te Anau, a small town on the South Island of New Zealand (in Sun's words "more sheep and deer than people"), where she lived with her mother and grandmother, she moved to Shanghai after a few years, where she attended kindergarten. She then came to Switzerland, to Founex in the canton of Vaud, because her mother wanted to give her a first-class education.
Before turning professional, she ended up studying at the University of Texas in Austin and graduated in - what else - international relations during corona.
"In the end, I wasn't anywhere for very long," says Sun - pronounced "sunn", by the way, not like the English sun. And therefore somehow feels at home everywhere.
Accordingly, she had many options as to which country she wanted to play for. In the juniors and even last January, when she qualified for the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the Australian Open, she competed for Switzerland. But when things got serious and she had to choose a team for the Billie Jean King Cup, she opted for New Zealand.
Strengths from many cultures
"I'm really happy that I have so many cultures and backgrounds, but I can't really choose one hundred percent," she says. "From my Chinese mother I have discipline, my father comes from Croatia by the sea, from him I have a certain calmness and tranquillity. And from Switzerland, neutrality," she says with a laugh. After her father left the family, she also changed her name from Lulu Radovic to Lulu Sun.
The change of nation was then a purely rational one. Sun also emphasized that she felt connected to her country of birth, where her grandparents still live, and wanted to help develop tennis there. In the end, however, New Zealand was simply able to make her a more financially attractive offer than Swiss Tennis. Sun was perhaps also hoping that this would make it easier for her to qualify for the Olympics. However, her success came too late for that, as she was selected for the Olympics before Wimbledon.
First New Zealander in the quarter-finals
Next Monday, Sun will move up around 70 places into the top 60. But it doesn't have to stay that way, she is not without a chance in the quarter-finals against the unseeded Croatian Donna Vekic (WTA 37). She has already made tennis history for New Zealand anyway. No woman from the country has ever made it to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
