Multicultural Genevan Lulu Sun surprises at the start of the year: New Zealanders compete for Swiss tennis discovery

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There is a new name on the Swiss tennis radar. Lulu Sun is the name of the young woman who emerged as a discovery at the Australian Open. She went through the qualification as Swiss Tennis’s only cross-gender representative – and was able to celebrate her Grand Slam premiere. Although she was eliminated in the first round against the Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (22/1:6, 5:7), her rise is still remarkable. In early January she caused a stir by qualifying and then reaching the round of 16 at the WTA 250 tournament in Auckland.

Lulu Sun is a 22 year old from Geneva, born in New Zealand. Her mother is Chinese and her father is Croatian. The surname Radovcic, which Sun still bore until a few years ago, came from him. But due to her parents’ divorce, she eventually took her mother’s name.

Sun moved from New Zealand to Florida when she was five years old. She came to French-speaking Switzerland at the age of eight to get a good education, explains her manager Stephane Gurov. The agent does press work in collaboration with Sun’s stepfather Sinclair Hoffmann. Sun attended Collège Champittet, an international school in Lausanne, and studied international relations in Texas.

Top 100 as the next milestone

She has had a Swiss passport since 2018 and plays under the Swiss flag. She was among the top 10 in the world among juniors. Now, down under, as number 193 in the world, she joined the tennis elite for the first time: “Making the top 100 is the clear goal for this year,” says her manager Gurov. It goes without saying that Swiss Tennis would like to hear this. However, Swiss Tennis is not the only association that Sun would like to have involved.

As part of her appearances in Auckland, the topic of a nation change to New Zealand came up in the local press – as she could suddenly become one of the figureheads in her native country and there would be less national competition. The ‘New Zealand Herald’ newspaper argued that the New Zealand association would likely have financial difficulties keeping up with those from Switzerland: ‘But it could support them through the local structures, and Sun would also have many more commercial interests in this country to have. than in Switzerland, which is steeped in tennis.”

At Swiss Tennis you naturally see things differently. Alessandro Greco, head of elite sport at the association, has been looking after Sun for years and is determined to keep her: “If she continues like this, she will of course become more and more interesting for our Billie Jean King Cup team.”

Good news for Switzerland

Sun confirmed the conversations with the New Zealanders in the New Zealand Herald, but declined to comment further when asked during the Australian Open. However, there is also good news in another way: Swiss Tennis has reported that Sun has now spoken out in favor of Switzerland.

This news comes at just the right time. Given the currently manageable situation at the top women’s table – Belinda Bencic (26) is temporarily absent due to her pregnancy, while Viktorija Golubic (31) is the only Swiss woman still in the top 100 – Greco and BJK Cup captain Heinz Günthardt are happy for each new entry.

Greco is very happy with Sun’s development: “She is very intelligent – and at the same time very calm on the field. She is remarkably emotionally stable, which has a positive influence on the game. As a left-handed player she also has a certain bonus.” And she has impressively demonstrated in Auckland and Melbourne that she knows how to use this.

Source : Blick