Illustration: Liu Xiangya/Global Times

China's rising star Zheng Qinwen was named the No.24 seed for the ladies' singles at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, setting her up to lead the Chinese contenders looking to make new breakthroughs at this year's third Grand Slam tournament, which is set to begin on Monday.

According to the tournament organizers at Wimbledon, Zheng is the only seeded Chinese player and she will be joined by Zhang Shuai, Zhu Lin, Wang Xinyu and Wang Xiyu in the ladies' singles. Zhang Zhizhen and Wu Yibing have qualified for the gentlemen's singles and they will also pair up for the gentlemen's doubles.  

This will be a first for Zhang and Wu, who have both made historic breakthroughs for China's men's tennis and are set on winning medals at the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games. How the pair fares will be an interesting point to focus on at Wimbledon, which runs until July 16.

Respective men's and women's world No.1s Carlos Alcaraz from Spain and Iga Swiatek from Poland have been named as top seeds at the championships. 

The 21-year-old Zheng hopes to go further than her best effort at the All England Club - a third round run in 2022. However, she has not clicked into gear with her new coach Wim Fissette since their partnership in June. The well-known Belgian coach has worked with former Women's Tennis Association (WTA) world number ones Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka. Clijsters, Kerber and Osaka managed to win Grand Slam titles when partnering with Fissette.

Zheng reached a peak ranking of world No.19 this year. However, she parted company with Spanish coach Pere Riba after a disappointing run at the French Open. With the new partnership, Zheng hopes to make breakthrough.

Zheng has suffered two consecutive first-round defeats on grass court recently, losing to US player Jessica Pegula at the Eastbourne WTA 500 tournament before heading to Wimbledon. Since grass court is not Zheng's specialty, more time and patience is needed for the new partnership to get into the groove.

Zhu Lin, who reached the fourth round at this year's Australian Open followed by a career-high singles ranking of world No.33, is the other Chinese woman athlete to look out for. 

"I think I'm like a bird flying slower than others, but I will eventually reach my destination," Zhu said during the Australian Open.

Meanwhile, 34-year-old Zhang Shuai has been struggling with injuries. She came within a whisker of winning her third Grand Slam title with Belgian Elise Mertens in last year's ladies' doubles final. 

The pair were thrashed by Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, who had won four Grand Slam double titles together. We need to give kudos to the veteran who is still pursuing her dream at the Grand Slam tournament.

Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan are expected to continue their resilient performance in the ladies' doubles now that they have reached the third round at the French Open. They have made it into the last 16 in the past five Grand Slam tournaments consecutively. 

On the gentlemen's side, in-form Zhang Zhizhen earned his first tour-level grass court win on Tuesday and went on to edge past US athlete Maxime Cressy on Wednesday, allowing him to advance to the quarterfinals. These timely victories will surely boost his confidence for his second Wimbledon campaign.

In 2021, Zhang became the first man from the Chinese mainland during the Open Era to play in the main draw at Wimbledon. 

Wu was the first man from the Chinese mainland in the Open Era to reach an ATP tour-level singles final and win the title at the 2023 Dallas Open in February.