New Zealand-born, Swiss-raised Lulu Sun shining brighter than ever at Wimbledon

Editor's Note: Sun defeated Emma Raducanu, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, to reach her first tour-level quarterfinal—as a qualifier at Wimbledon ⤵️

Lulu Sun’s dream Wimbledon debut just keeps getting better, with her breakout major run extending into the round of 16. Not to be forgotten: her tournament nearly ended in heartbreaking fashion during qualifying.

In her second match at Roehampton, Sun saw a 5-1 lead against Gabriela Knutson shift into a 5-6, 30-40 deficit. The left-hander, of course, erased the match point and after prevailing in a decisive tie-break, has gone on a remarkable tear.

In her main-draw opener, Sun shocked eighth seed Zheng Qinwen from a set down for her first Top 10 win. She repeated the feat in her next match to rally past fellow qualifier Yulia Starodubtseva.

On Friday, two set point saves late in her third-rounder resulted in Sun closing out Zhu Lin, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6). She’s now the first woman from New Zealand to reach the fourth round at The Championships in the Open Era.

“I wasn't expecting to be here at this stage, but I've just been playing match-by-match. Yeah, here I am,” Sun told press afterwards.

The 23-year-old answered questions in English, Mandarin and French during her post-match press conference. She’s currently learning Korean and has designs to add Japanese to her repertoire. Born in a small New Zealand town to a Chinese mother and Croatian father, Sun spent a brief stint in Shanghai before growing up in Switzerland with her mom and stepdad, who is from Devon, England.

“I'm really happy to be able to have so many cultures and backgrounds with me even though sometimes I'm not, as I said before, 100% in each one. It's impossible to be,” Sun said. “I'm really grateful to be able to at least have some of it.”

As Sun describes, her family members and places they resided have all contributed to the person she is today. Her mom inspires competitiveness and discipline, her dad channels a sense of calmness. Switzerland brings out neutrality, while New Zealand encourages tapping into her sense of adventure.

“My mom, obviously, she's very keen on education. She always told us that, yes, sports and whatever you dream of is important, but to get that education is important as well,” she shared.

As part of honoring those wishes, Sun headed to the U.S. to further her studies while playing college tennis for the University of Texas. At the 2021 NCAA Championships, Sun clinched the program’s third team title in a winner-take-all match by prevailing over Pepperdine’s Taisiya Pachkaleva to cap off her one season with the Longhorns alongside future WTA Top 50 player Peyton Stearns.

I'm really happy to be able to have so many cultures and backgrounds with me even though sometimes I'm not, as I said before, 100% in each one. It's impossible to be. I'm really grateful to be able to at least have some of it. —Lulu Sun

Sun graduated a year later, opening the door to go all-in with pursuing her No. 1 ambition.

“I didn't know going into college that (COVID-19) would happen. I had an injury that year, and my mom, she was really worried,” recalled Sun. “She was, like, ‘I don't know when you're going to do your exams, you have to focus on your studies a bit before you go 100% in tennis.’ I guess it was kind of luck, if you will, and timing.”

As this tournament shows, trusting the process has paid off. Sun will move well inside the Top 100 for the first time and is set to earn no less than £226,000 (about $289,000). Her career prize money coming in: $313,832. In the words of her alma mater, Hook ‘em! 🤘