Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) Lu Yen-hsun and Jimmy Wang, the only Taiwanese players among the world's top 100 in men's professional tennis, said Thursday that 2011 could be a critical year for their careers.
They made the remarks ahead of an exhibition match featuring tennis great Andre Agassi of the United States and Marat Safin of Russia.
Lu, world No. 35 on the ATP rankings, said he will have to seize every opportunity to make a breakthrough in the year ahead, while the 25-year-old Wang said he will be trying to come back from a mysterious wrist injury that has led to his three-year hiatus from the professional circle.
The local tennis stars had a rare opportunity to play together in front of hometown fans in the 2011 Rise of Legends exhibition games featuring Agassi, Safin and current world No. 10, Mikhail Youzhny, also of Russia. The matches were scheduled to take place later that day in Taipei and on Jan. 8 in the southern city of Kaohsiung.
The exhibition games could not come at a better time for Wang, who resumed competition in the second half of 2010 after spending much of the past three years, including the entire 2009 season, nursing his wrist injury.
Wang, the Taiwanese player with the most wins in the Davis Cup and the youngest national champion as a 15-year-old, described the last three years as "a period of self-exploration during which I learned to dialogue with myself" after seeing his world ranking dropping from No. 85 to No. 797 and his professional career collapsing.
"I have been trying to look at my on-court performance rather than the results, and to enjoy every match as much as possible, " said Wang.
Fresh from training in Kenya to prepare for the upcoming Australian Open, Lu, who is Asia's top-ranked player, was thinking about different things.
The 2010 Wimbledon quarterfinalist had a breakthrough last year when he defeated American Andy Roddick at Wimbledon before reaching a career-high No. 33 in the ATP rankings last November. Now, he said, he is trying to maintain his top 50 status and challenge the best.
Conditioning is the key because "physically I'm no longer young, " said Lu, adding that stamina is the key to success for a tennis player. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J