Despite the development of tennis in the country, the only Chinese player to have won a Grand Slam singles title is former world No2 Li Na, at Roland Garros in 2011 and Wimbledon in 2014. On the men's side, the only singles victory in an ATP tournament came from Wu Yibing, now 24, who won the 2017 US Junior Open and the Dallas Open in February 2023 after defeating John Isner of the USA 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 (7-3) and 7-6 (14-12) in a thrilling final.

Previously, China won gold in the women's doubles with Li Ting and Sun Tiantian at Athens 2004 and bronze with Yan Zi and Zheng Jie at Beijing 2008. Now, at Paris 2024, they have won as many medals as at all previous Games, with Zheng Quinwen making history as China's first singles gold medallist and Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen winning mixed doubles silver after losing the final to the Czech Republic's Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova. 

Zheng Qinwen's historic gold followed a decade-long surge in the sport's popularity among China's burgeoning middle class, and her victory will give it a new lease of life after 10 years without major success. At Roland Garros, 13 years after Li Na's Grand Slam win in Paris, the 21-year-old Quinwen beat Croatia's Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in an easy and swift final.

With 30,000 tennis courts and an estimated more than 20 million people playing tennis regularly in China, it is curious that all the success in Chinese tennis has come from the women, with players like the aforementioned Zheng Jie, Li Na, Peng Shuai, Zhang Shuai and Zheng Jie.

This week, AFP visited tennis centres in Beijing, where club bosses reported a surge in interest in the game. Elsewhere in the Chinese capital, children lined up to hit balls hit by coaches at the Open Star Tennis Club, where the number of players has more than doubled since Zheng's gold medal. 

Tennis was introduced to China in the 1860s, but it failed to gain mass appeal and was largely an elite sport reserved for the wealthiest families, while table tennis became a popular sport closely associated with Asian, and particularly Chinese, culture. 

During the turbulent period of the Cultural Revolution, it was even seen as a manifestation of the sins of the revisionists and the bourgeoisie. However, the growth of China's middle class in recent decades, combined with a political communism that also embraces capitalism, has brought about social changes that, in this case, have favoured tennis. 

In 2000, only 4% of urban households were considered middle class, but today the official estimate is over 400 million - almost 30% of the country's 1.4 billion people. In tandem with the country's economic growth, China's tennis-playing population has exploded from less than two million in 2006 to nearly 20 million by 2021, the second largest in the world after the United States. 

Tennis was introduced to China in the 1860s, but it failed to gain mass appeal and was largely an elite sport reserved for the wealthiest families, while table tennis became a popular sport closely associated with Asian, and particularly Chinese, culture. 

During the turbulent period of the Cultural Revolution, it was even seen as a manifestation of the sins of the revisionists and the bourgeoisie. However, the growth of China's middle class in recent decades, combined with a political communism that also embraces capitalism, has brought about social changes that, in this case, have favoured tennis. 

In 2000, only 4% of urban households were considered middle class, but today the official estimate is over 400 million - almost 30% of the country's 1.4 billion people. In tandem with the country's economic growth, China's tennis-playing population has exploded from less than two million in 2006 to nearly 20 million by 2021, the second largest in the world after the United States. 

Beijing-based sports marketing expert Adam Zhang said "tennis mania" had hit China - from children going through grassroots programmes to companies spending big on corporate sponsorship. Zheng's Olympic gold triggered her racket and shoes to trend online, while racket manufacturer Wilson saw a 2,000 percent increase in interest in the model she uses.

However, the movement hasn't been at its best in recent years, with poor singles results at the top tournaments. Now, after Zheng Qinwen's gold medal, tennis in China is expecting a definite boost, which could change things for the second country in the medals table at Paris 2024. 

Incidentally, while watching the aforementioned Li Na - China's most successful tennis player of all time - win the Australian Open in 2014, an 11-year-old Zheng Qinwen told a TV crew that she wanted to "fight for championships". She first picked up a racket in her hometown of Shiyan (population over three million) in Hubei province, and soon her unique talent took her to the provincial capital of Wuhan and later to Beijing. 

Aaron Cao, owner of the Beijing International Tennis Academy, has noticed that many parents have a specific goal in mind when they send their children to learn tennis. "They want their children to start in primary school so that when they go to college in the US, they will have a hobby to socialise with others. You can't do that with table tennis," she told AFP.