WATCH: Emma Raducanu's Wimbledon 4R opponent Lulu Sun 'training with a cow' during her up-and-coming days resurfaces ahead of SW19 battle
New Zealand No. 1 Lulu Sun has stunned the tennis world with her historic run at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships as a qualifier. She will now face English star Emma Raducanu in the fourth round in London.
Lulu Sun has been making waves on the 2024 WTA Tour, jumping nearly 100 spots on the WTA Ranking to the World No. 123 spot, which was her ranking just prior to the Wimbledon Championships. She took her career to new heights in London with a remarkable run from the qualifying stage to the fourth round, where she will now face a resurgent Emma Raducanu.
Sun's run at SW19 has caught the eye of tennis fans. In light of her high-profile clash with Raducanu, a video resurfaced on social media showing the Kiwi player practicing in interesting surroundings during her early days in tennis. The clip is from the 2017 ITF W15 Futures event in Gwalior, India, and shows Sun practicing with a cow present at the court.
Cows freely roam the streets in India, but one wandering onto a tennis court surprised Sun and tennis fans. Sun was playing in the main draw of the 2017 ITF W15 Gwalior Futures as a qualifier and reached the semifinals, where she lost to local player Zeel Desai.
Lulu Sun recorded top 10-win en route to 4R at Wimbledon 2024
Lulu Sun began her campaign at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships in the qualifying stages, where she was seeded No. 23. She exuded confidence while defeating Miriam Balgaru 6-2, 6-1, Gabriela Knutson 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6), and former Junior Grand Slam champion Alex Eala 7-6 (3), 7-5. As a result, she qualified for her second Grand Slam main draw after the 2024 Australian Open.
The 23-year-old faced No. 8 seed Zheng Qinwen in the opening round of the main draw and came back from a set down to register the biggest win of her career 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Lulu Sun played another three set marathon against fellow qualifier from Ukraine, Yulia Starodubtseva, in the second round and emerged victorious 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The Kiwi player's most recent win at Wimbledon came against World No. 61 Lin Zhu in the third round. She emerged on top through two tiebreakers to oust the Chinese 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6), hitting 43 winners. With this win, Sun became the first woman from New Zealand to reach the fourth round at the Wimbledon Championships since 1959.
Sun will now face former US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the fourth round at SW19. With her run in London, Sun will jump at least 49 spots in the WTA Ranking to reach the World No. 74 spot.