"They gave me one thousand cash; I had no coach, nothing" - Shuai Zhang shares Grand Slam incident highlighting struggles of Chinese tennis players

Chinese tennis player Shuai Zhang, who celebrated her 34th birthday by making it to the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open, opened up about the difficulties faced by her compatriots in the sport.

The World No. 22 defeated American Katie Volynets in straight sets to set up a clash with former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova in the round of 16, where she will be joined by another Chinese player, Lin Zhu — who has made the second week of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, just a week shy of turning 29.

Speaking about the delayed rise in results for Chinese tennis players, Zhang shared the story of her maiden Grand Slam main draw tournament, the 2008 US Open, where she bowed out in the opening round. The two-time Grand Slam women's doubles winner confessed that the Chinese players' initial struggles were due to language barriers, lack of funding and a proper coaching team.

"For me first time 2008 going to US Open, so I'm go myself. So national team, they gave me, like, one thousand cash, U.S. dollar, and then passport, me and another player just go. So I have no coach. We have nothing," Shuai Zhang said in her post-match press conference at the 2023 Australian Open.

"We don't know, where is US Open? We only know it's in New York. So we're feeling, like, Oh. We're scared. Everything, the English, no good, very poor. How can reach to the second round, third round? Impossible," she added.

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"Right now all young players have great team" - Shuai Zhang on the improving conditions of tennis in China

Shuai Zhang won women's doubles titles at 2019 Australian Open and 2021 US Open with Samantha Stosur

While Shuai Zhang remains the current highest-ranked female tennis player from China, just a few positions behind her is 20-year-old Qinwen Zheng at World No. 28. Also, at World No. 49 is 21-year-old Xiyu Wang.

Highlighting the recent emergence of top-ranked players from the country, the 34-year-old admitted to seeing improved coaching conditions in recent years.

"Right now all young players, you can see they have great team. Everyone since junior. And also they have, like, whole team working for one player since junior," Shaui Zhang said.

"Zheng Qinwen, she can play really good. Wang Xinyu and Wang Qiang, they can play really good from 18 years old because they already win some Grand Slam junior. They were No. 1 or top 10. So they're feeling, like, Oh, I know everything from the Australia Open, US Open," she added.