Taiwanese tennis player Lu Yen-hsun on Tuesday called his run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals a turning point in his career and said his new target is to reach the world’s top 30.
Lu is in Germany for an intensive 10-day training regimen in Offenbach, a town just outside Frankfurt, with German coach Dirk Hordorff and trainer Bernardo Carberol to prepare for the US hardcourt season, hoping for another standout showing at the final Grand Slam of the season, the US Open.
“My coach has brought me into the top 50. Our new target now is the top 30,” Lu said at a tennis club managed by Hordorff, who is also Lu’s agent.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Lu is currently ranked No. 44 in the world and No. 2 in Asia behind Andrey Golubev (37) of Kazakhstan, according to the rankings of the Association of Tennis Professionals.
The 26-year-old is still grateful to Hordorff for reaching out to him in 2003 when he was struggling with a shoulder injury and had doubts about his future. Early on, Hordorff worked with Lu for free.
“Even if you’re low-ranked or injured, he has the same attitude toward every player, which is to aim for perfection,” Lu said.
Hordorff has confidence in Lu’s tennis skills.
“His conditioning is good. He’s fast, and his returns, groundstrokes and volleys are excellent, almost perfect. What he’s missing is match experience,” he said.
The German coach also commended Lu’s perseverance in fighting through two serious injuries and said that patience could pay off after Lu’s win over Roddick.
“Lu now knows that he can beat the best players in the world, and that will make it easier for him from now on. I believe he still has great promise,” Hordorff said.
Also See: Taiwanese tumble in Stanford
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS