Zhu Lin (; ; born 28 January 1994) is a Chinese

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

player. On 31 October 2022, Zhu reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 58, while on 24 February 2020, she reached her best WTA doubles ranking of 103. To date, she has won the 2019 Jiangxi Open in doubles. Along with that WTA title, she also won one singles and one doubles title on

WTA 125 tournaments WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012. In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger seriesITF Circuit. On 25 February 2019, she entered the top 100 in singles, reaching world No. 93. Playing for

China Fed Cup team The China women's national tennis team represents China in Fed Cup tennis competition and is governed by the Chinese Tennis Association. History China competed in its first Fed Cup in 1981. China competed at the World Group level in 2007 throug ...

, Zhu has a win–loss record of 7–4.

Early life and background

Zhu Lin was born on 28 January 1994 to Zhu Jiangming and Chen Yunqi in

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city a ...

, China. Her father introduced her to tennis at age four. She has a very aggressive style of play, and her signature shot and also favorite shot is

forehand The forehand in tennis and other racket sports such as table tennis, squash and badminton is a shot made by swinging the racket across one's body with the hand moving palm-first. In tennis, except in the context of the phrase ''forehand volle ...

. Her tennis idol growing up was Martina Hingis.

Junior career

Zhu debuted on the ITF Junior Circuit in September 2009 at the age of 15 at the China Junior 1 Open, where she also reached her first singles final. She lost that match against Turkish player Melis Sezer, in straight sets. The following week, she played at China Junior 2 Open, where she also had success, reaching the semifinals in both singles and doubles. She continued having success in her next tournament, where she won the title in singles and reached semifinals in doubles in the 2009 Widjojo Soejono Semen Gresik Junior Championships. The next week, Zhu won her first doubles title and also reached the semifinal in singles at the Solo Open International Junior Championships. Toward the end of the year, she reached one singles final at the PHINMA International Juniors (week 2), where she lost, but won two doubles titles, at that tournament. In January 2010, Zhu debuted at a junior Grand Slam tournament, playing at the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...

, where she was stopped in the third round by

Kristýna Plíšková Kristýna Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is an inactive Czech professional tennis player. Plíšková has won one singles and four doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as nine singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 31 Ju ...

. In April 2010, she reached the quarterfinals at the Dunlop Japan Open Junior Championships, in both singles and doubles. At the end of May 2010, she played at the Asian Closed Junior Tennis Championships in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

, India. There she reached the semifinal in singles and the final in doubles. In September 2010, she lost in the first round of the Junior US Open, in singles. Toward the end of the year, she won China Junior 2 - Xiamen in singles. In January 2011, she played at the Australian Open, where she lost in the second round, in both singles and doubles. It was her last junior doubles tournament. Her last junior singles tournament was at the China Junior 10 Dalian, where she lost in the third round. Her highest junior combined ranking was 39, that she reached on 17 January 2011.

Professional career

2009-13: Playing at the ITF Circuit

Zhu made her debut at the ITF Circuit in June 2009, at the $10k Qianshan, China, where she was stopped in the second round. In October 2010, she played her first ITF final, at the $10k Nonthaburi, Thailand, but lost in that final from

Nungnadda Wannasuk Nungnadda "Jib" Wannasuk ( th, หนึ่งนัดดา วรรณสุข; born 11 November 1989) is a Thai former professional tennis player. Career She earned her best result in the 2011 PTT Pattaya Open where she, as a qualifier, ...

. Later, on 24 October, she won her first ITF singles title, at the $10k Khon Kaen, Thailand. In November 2010, she won her first doubles title, at the $10k Manila, Phlippines. In 2011, Zhu won one ITF singles title, at the $10k Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2012, Zhu reached only one final in singles, at the $10k Pattaya, Thailand which she lost. In 2013, she debuted at the

WTA 125 tournaments WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012. In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger series Suzhou Ladies Open The Suzhou Ladies Open is a tournament for professional female tennis players played on outdoor hard courts. The event is classified as a $100,000 ITF Women's Circuit tournament. It has been held in Suzhou, China, since 2012. It was part of th ...

in the first round in both category.

2014: Success at ITF events; WTA Tour debut

Zhu started the year really well. On her first tournament, she reached the final where she lost to

Lenka Wienerová Lenka Wienerová (born 23 April 1988) is a Slovak former tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tenni ...

. In March, she won $10k Ankara, Turkey, defeating Iryna Shymanovich. In June, she won three consecutive tournaments. First, Zhu won her first $25k level tournament, in Belikpapan, Indonesia. Then, she won $10k Tarakan, Indonesia, and next week, she won $10k Solo, Indonesia. The following week, she also reached her first significant final, at the Xi'an Open, but lost in that final to

Duan Yingying Duan Yingying (; born 3 July 1989) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. In her career, she won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, and two WTA Challenger doubles titles, as well as eleven singles and three d ...

. In August, she played her first Grand Slam qualification, where she was close to qualify for the main draw. After defeating

Giulia Gatto-Monticone Giulia Gatto-Monticone (born 18 November 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. In February 2020, she reached her highest singles ranking of world No. 148, while her best WTA doubles ranking is 200, achieved in October 2014. She has n ...

and

Arina Rodionova Arina Ivanovna Rodionova (russian: Арина Ивановна Родионова; born 15 December 1989) is a Russian-born Australian tennis player. Rodionova has won nine singles and 42 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In 2007, ...

, she lost in the third round to

Zheng Saisai Zheng Saisai or Zheng Sai-Sai (; born February 5, 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. She won one WTA singles title (at the Premier level 2019 Silicon Valley Classic), five WTA doubles titles, and reached the final of the 2019 French Open in dou ...

. Zhu made her WTA Tour debut at the Hong Kong Open. Having entered the qualifying tournament, she defeated

Wang Yafan Wang Yafan (; ; born 30 April 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. In her career, she has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four doubles titles on WTA 125 tournaments, plus eleven singles and six doubles ...

, Raluca Olaru, and

Elitsa Kostova Elitsa Kostova ( bg, Елица Костова) (born 10 April 1990) is a former professional Bulgarian tennis player. On 12 September 2016, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of No. 130, achieved on 12 September 2016, her best doubles ...

for a spot in the main draw, where she subsequently recorded her first ever main-draw win at the WTA level by defeating Kristýna Plíšková in the first round, but was stopped in second round by

Jana Čepelová Jana Čepelová (; born 29 May 1993) is an inactive Slovak tennis player. She has won seven singles titles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 12 May 2014, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 50. On 18 May 2015, she p ...

. In September, Zhu played qualification at the Premier-5 level tournament - Wuhan Open, but failed to qualify. Next week, she played her first Premier Mandatory tournament in main draw at the China Open. In first round, she defeated

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...

, but lost to Simona Halep in the second.

2015: Grand Slam debut

Zhu Lin 4, 2015 Wimbledon Championships - Diliff

In January, Zhu failed to qualify for the Australian Open. At the Indian Wells Open, she reached the second round by defeating Francesca Schiavone, but then lost to Sara Errani. She failed to qualify for the Miami Open, Madrid Open and French Open. Zhu made her Grand Slam singles debut at Wimbledon, where she lost to Belarusian qualifier

Aliaksandra Sasnovich Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...

in three sets. At the US Open, she lost in the first round of qualifying.

2016: Success in doubles on the ITF Circuit

She won the title at the Launceston International, that was her first tournament in the year where she played doubles. In April, she reached final at the $25k Kashiwa, Japan, where she lost in the final in doubles. In late July, she won Lexington Challenger, together with her partner

Hiroko Kuwata Hiroko Kuwata ( ja, 桑田寛子; born 18 December 1990) is a Japanese tennis player. Kuwata has won seven singles titles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 9 May 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 150. On 13 July ...

. At the Wuhan Open, she failed to qualify in singles, but reached second round in doubles, where together with

Han Xinyun Han Xinyun (; ; born 30 May 1990), also known as Monica Han, is a Chinese professional tennis player. Han has won three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour. She also has won nine singles and ...

lost to

Bethanie Mattek-Sands Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former ...

and

Lucie Šafářová Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles. She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2015 Australian Open, 2015 ...

. At the China Open, she also failed to qualify in singles, and in doubles she lost in first round. In November, she reached her first $100k final in doubles. It was at the Shenzhen Open, but lost together with Han Xinyun against

You Xiaodi You Xiaodi (; ; born 12 May 1996) is a Chinese tennis player. She has won one WTA Challenger doubles title, as well as six singles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 16 March 2020, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. ...

and

Nina Stojanović Nina Stojanović ( sr-cyr, Нина Стојановић, ; born 30 July 1996) is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 2 March 2020, Stojanović reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 81. On 17 January 2022, she peaked at No. 37 in ...

2019-20: First Grand Slam win, first WTA doubles title, top 100 debut

At the Dubai Championships, Zhu made one of her biggest wins, defeating reigning Doha champion

Elise Mertens Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles. Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering ...

, but lost in the second round to

Lesia Tsurenko Lesia Viktorivna Tsurenko ( uk, Леся Вікторівна Цуренко; born 30 May 1989) is a Ukrainian tennis player. Tsurenko has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and eight doubles tournaments on the IT ...

. After losing six first-round matches, Zhu clinched her first singles victory at a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open, beating compatriot teenager

Wang Xinyu Wang Xinyu (, ; born 26 September 2001) is a Chinese tennis player. Coaching team Wang's current team consists of her father Wang Peng; a Serbian technical coach, Aleksandar Slović, who won the men's singles title at 2009 Summer Universiade ...

in straight sets, before she lost to Madison Keys in the second round. In September, she played her first WTA Tour final, at the Jiangxi International Open, and she and Wang Xinyu defeated

Peng Shuai Peng Shuai (; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese retired professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked world No. 1 doubles player by the WTA, becoming the first Chinese tennis player to achieve that ranking (in either single ...

and

Zhang Shuai Zhang Shuai (; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open, both alongside Samantha Stosur. Zhang als ...

in an all-Chinese final.

2021: First WTA 125 singles title

In December, she won her first singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

, defeating

Kristina Mladenovic Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a nine-time Grand Slam c ...

in the final.

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

''Current through the 2022 Guadalajara Open.''

Doubles

''Current after the 2022 US Open.''

WTA career finals

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

WTA Challenger finals

Singles: 1 (title)

Doubles: 1 (title)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 27 (15 titles, 12 runner–ups)

Doubles: 10 (6 titles, 4 runner–ups)

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhu, Lin 1994 births Living people Chinese female tennis players Sportspeople from Wuxi Tennis players from Jiangsu