Taipei, July 3 (CNA) After a historic victory in the Wimbledon Championship this week, Taiwanese tennis player Lu Yen-hsun said Saturday his next goal will be the upcoming U.S. Open and making it into the top 20 in world ranking.
"Now that I've made it into the top 50, my next goal is to make it into the world's top 20," Lu told reporters at the second press conference in the last 24 hours upon his return from London, where the tournament was held.
Lu, who was ranked 82nd in the world, shocked the tennis world when he defeated world No. 7 Andy Roddick of the United States during a match in the fourth round of the Wimbledon men's singles on Tuesday.
Lu became the first Taiwanese player ever and the first Asian since 1995 to make the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam tournament before losing to world No. 3 Novak Djokovic.
Despite his later loss to Djokovic, international and Taiwanese media have been showering him with attention since his defeat of Roddick.
As experienced as Lu is on the tennis court, he said he was“ somewhat in awe”of the media coverage. He was mobbed by journalists and fans at the airport Friday night. More than two dozen television cameras and around 100 reporters attended the Saturday press conference.
The“newest hero”of Taiwan, as a story on the official Wimbledon Web site wrote, described the win over Roddick as something that“ would probably be a career-changing victory for me because now I am convinced that I can compete with the best.”
The confidence-boosting victory, which is expected to raise his world ranking from No. 82 to the top 50, became a catalyst for Lu to set his eyes on the world's top 20. It is also why he has a higher expectation for the upcoming U.S. Open, which will take place from Aug. 30-Sept. 12 in New York.
“I’m always excited whenever I have a chance to meet the top players because it’s an opportunity to compete against the best,”Lu said, adding that he always has a mentality that“as long as you work hard, your dreams will come true one day.”
Under the guidance of German coach Dirk Hordoff, Lu hopes that he could add another 200 points in the summer to help him earn a U.S. Open seed in the men’s singles. He is also considering focusing on the singles competition in New York, rather than playing both singles and doubles, which some analysts said was too much a burden and played a role in his loss to Djokovic.
Off the court, Lu, 26, is planning a year-end wedding, a“ goal”he declined to elaborate on.
Lu said he was surprised to know that his wedding plan was published by the media, but he did plan to wed his longtime girlfriend, whose parents are both local politicians, in December.
Lu’s epic win sparked a tennis frenzy in the midst of the World Cup soccer fever and resulted in a heated public discussion and political debate in Taiwan over the lack of government support for elite local athletes like Lu, who has been having financial difficulties traveling between tournaments after turning professional in 2000.
Lu entered the men’s tennis tournament in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the only player without a coach and a trainer before posting one of the major wins in his career when he defeated British then-world top 10 Andy Murray in the first round.
Lu played down the“controversy”in the press conference Saturday, but acknowledged that he spends much of his time off-court looking for cheap flight tickets, hotels and calculated when was the best time to hire coaches and trainers“so I can save money.”
“I understand that professional athletes probably shouldn’t ask for government support. However, as much assistance as possible from the government would be appreciated... It’s not exactly money we’re talking about,”he said. (By Chris Wang) enditem/cs