中国网球明星与粉丝的成长

I'm Emily Chang in Beijing with some of Chinese youngest tennis players who are abuzz with the excitement about their favorite tennis stars. Unfortunately, both Zheng Jie and Li Na lost their semi-final matches, but their overall success in the Australian Open has been uNPRecedented for China, it is the first time not just one,but two Chinese women have made it to the final 4 of a Grand Slam tournament. It's all over the papers. There are both of them, Zheng Jie and Li Na are holding up a Chinese flag, regardless of the outcome of this tournament, Li Na will now be ranked among the top 10 women tennis players in the world.It is big for her, and it is big for China.

"It's the first time that Chinese woman or any Chinese player, male or female has been in the top 10. So it's a huge stepping point just in terms of how people perceive. I mean, you have top 10 players and you so do have the rest ".

The Chinese government usually tightly regulates athletes' training ,but recently give Zheng Jie and Li Na more freedom to manage their own career, they've had more control over their schedules, their coaching ,their expenses ,they've been able to play more high-level competitions. And their success has been obvious and there's no doubt this could be a great year for women's tennis in China, and mean a surging interest in the sport across the country.