Wimbledon star admits that her higher profile comes with a pressure
Lulu Sun is getting used to being noticed but admits that her sudden stardom following a run to the last eight at Wimbledon has come with a ‘pressure’.
Sun knocked Emma Raducanu out of her home Grand Slam but found she was getting recognised all over the world.
She made it clear that she was grateful for the support and felt that she had a certain expectation to perform in the Paris Olympics.
“It is kind of crazy how more and more people are being aware of my presence,” Sun told the Herald.
“The support has been massive and I am super grateful to receive it.”
Sun was happy to get away to Bratislava ahead of the Olympics for a short preparatiion camp away from the scrutiny.
“At first it was a bit overwhelming because I am not used to it obviously,” says Sun.
“I definitely didn’t think that tennis players were that busy. I thought that – yeah – I’m just going to finish my match and go home and recover.
“So getting more people noticing me, like you said it creates more pressure but I don’t think of pressure as a bad thing. You can take it both ways. I want to focus on my tennis and I want to improve as much as I can to be at the very top. So I took that as ‘I have this chance and I want to do everything that I can to be able to have no regrets.”
The Kiwi star takes confidence from her Wimbledon run and feels that it is an experience that she can always call on to boost her self belief.
“Being able to compete there and trying my best to go round by round and somehow ending up in the quarter-finals was incredible and I am super grateful to have that, even if it is history now. I will always keep it there,” Sun Added.
“Even before the draw was out I was thinking, ‘Okay, I don’t necessarily care who I play, I’m just going to go out there and give my 100 per cent,” recalls Sun. “Last time I was close to qualifying so I already had the confidence – oh I can go far on grass…it’s just a matter of how focussed I am and the intensity that I put into the matches.”
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Sun will team with Erin Routliffe in the women’s doubles.
“It’s my first Olympics and it’s with Erin,” said Sun.
“It’s a good thing and she has a lot of knowledge and experience so I can learn from that. We have been preparing well and we will do our best…everybody wants to go for the medal so we are fighting against that.”