China's chief tennis official gave a warm welcome yesterday to
former French Open champion Michael Chang after the
Chinese-American tennis ace revealed his hope to coach nation's top
players.
Sun Jinfang, general director of the Administrative Centre of
Tennis, said that she would like to see Chang come to China.
"Personally, I welcome him coaching the team here," she said.
"He is a symbolic figure on the tennis court, especially for
Chinese fans. I know some of our players grew up watching him play
on television."
The 34-year-old , commonly referred to as Zhang Depei, has been
invited by a local sports channel to be a commentator during the
live telecast at the ongoing Masters Cup in Shanghai. He said on
Monday evening that he was willing to coach tennis in China, as a
team consultant and assistant coach.
However, Sun believes there is a lot of work to be done before
they can officially recruit Chang for the national team.
"This is just his initial intention. I haven't received any
formal application or call from him," she said. "His mother called
me a couple of days ago and told me he wants to get involved in
Chinese women's tennis. Of course that's great, but I am waiting
for some more substantial steps from Chang himself.
"It's not a sure bet that a great player could be an equally
great coach, so I need to see him show us coaching proposals or
something like that. I also think he could get in touch with our
women's players first to see if the girls like working with their
childhood hero. That's very, very important, because we are a whole
team, not only one or two individuals."
Chang, however, did some homework for what could be the first
job of his coaching career. He spent five weeks improving his
Chinese at a mandarin school in Beijing before the Masters Cup and
also watched matches played by Li Na and Zheng Jie.
"They are doing great. I mean, they've done something that I
couldn't expect them to do when I was playing on the tour," he
said. "But they need more improvements, I am sure they are able to
get better in the future.
"I am yet to have any specific plan, to coach men's or women's
teams or teach kids here. I am not sure, but I believe I am able to
do something. Maybe I can bring some more American coaches together
with me the next year and see what we can do to help the players in
China."
Chang is known as the most influential Chinese-American athlete
in the world. He was the youngest French Open champion in history
after beating Stefan Edberg in a five-set thriller in the final and
was among the very best in the 1990's, along with his compatriots
Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Jim Courier.
Despite dropping beneath the radar for three years after his
2003 retirement, Chang draws much attention from local fans and
media at the Masters Cup, where a full floor of reporters and fans
chase him everywhere he goes.
A devout Christian, Chang spends much of his time running the
Chang Family Foundation, a charity funded by the prize money he won
during a 16-year career.
The foundation works on sports-oriented outreach for local
communities in southern California.
(China Daily November 16, 2006)