Who is Lulu Sun, Wimbledon surprise and multicultural patchwork?
The first New Zealander in the Open era to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon, Lulu Sun faced Emma Raducanu this Sunday at Wimbledon (she won 6-2, 5-7, 6-2).
Full of surprises, beyond her dream run on the turf of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the 23-year-old is a veritable multicultural patchwork of origins, nationalities and cultures.
She was born in New Zealand in a small town called Te Anau where, by her own admission, "there are almost more sheep and deer than people". She spent her early years as a schoolgirl in Shanghai, then grew up in Switzerland and finally went to university in the USA. Her father is Croatian, her stepfather is German-English and her mother is Chinese.
At Wimbledon, she answers journalists' questions in English, Chinese and French, three languages she speaks fluently. She is currently learning Korean, with Japanese to follow. Finally, she explained that she gets her fiery character from her mother, her laid-back nature from her father, her adventurous side from New Zealand, and her calm, neutral side from Switzerland.
Lulu Sun: "I'm really happy to be immersed in so many different cultures and horizons. So many different aspects. Even if sometimes, as I've already said, I'm not 100% all of them. I just can't be. But I'm really grateful that I can at least have a bit of each."
Quite a mix, not unlike that of her opponent of the day. Raducanu, a British woman born in Canada to a Chinese mother and Romanian father, is also quite familiar with the concept of multicultural patchwork.
Currently ranked 123rd in the world, but already assured of a place in the WTA Top 100 (around 75th), Sun could have missed out on the final draw at this year's Wimbledon. In fact, she saved a match point in the 3rd set of her battle with Gabriela Knutson in the 2nd qualifying round (4-6, 6-4, 7-6).
Since then, the rest has been a bonus. A bonus that may well have already changed her life as a professional tennis player.
