Now Lulu Sun is on the rise, the Kiwi tennis sensation’s life just got a lot more frenetic.
The feel-good story of Wimbledon this year, Lulu’s stunning performance – becoming the first Kiwi woman to reach the quarter-finals of the prestigious tournament – means she now has a spot in the main draw at the next four Grand Slams.
After starring on centre court, a feat few Kiwis have managed, the 23-year-old spent time with female tennis icons Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, and was asked to donate her racket to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.
Now she’s in Paris, preparing for her first Olympic Games. There, she will be playing doubles with fellow Kiwi and current world No 1 doubles player Erin Routliffe.
But if things should become too hectic, Lulu can let her mind wander back to tramping in the pristine mountains of her birthplace, Fiordland. Or she’ll take out her sketchbook and start to draw.
Although Lulu only began playing for New Zealand in March – after representing Switzerland, where she spent much of her childhood – she tries to return “home” at least once a year.
In January, after playing her way into the Australian Open main draw, Lulu came back to Te Anau to visit her grandmother, who still lives on the farm where Lulu spent her first five years.
“I try to visit every year, but it’s difficult with the tennis tour now,” admits the soft-spoken but sparkling Lulu, born to a Chinese mum and Croatian dad. “But I love it.
“Te Anau is a splendid place – lots of forests, sheep and deer farms. Fiordland is such a beautiful, chill part of the world. I’ve visited Milford Sound multiple times and I don’t think you can see anything like it anywhere else.”
A keen tramper, Lulu also enjoys running. She took part in Te Anau’s weekly 5km Lake2Lake Trail Parkrun earlier this year. Plus, she often has a hit around at the Te Anau Tennis Club if she’s in town.
Although she’s now the world’s 53rd-ranked women’s singles player – a huge leap from 202 earlier this year – Lulu ensures her life doesn’t only revolve around tennis. She’s something of an artist, though she laughs at the label.
“I enjoy drawing. I sketch when I’m on tour because I can’t take paints with me all over the world,” she says. “It’s mainly people, but I enjoy drawing buildings and architecture. I’m now trying digital illustrations because you can add colour.
“It’s a cool way to relax and not think about other things. You can put your music on and sit there for hours.”
Fluent in three languages – English, French and Mandarin – Lulu is now learning Korean.
“I wanted to learn another language with characters. When I write Chinese, it feels like art.” She’s keen to pick up te reo Māori as well.
A diligent student, Lulu graduated from the University of Texas in 2022 with a degree in international relations and global studies in three years instead of the usual four. At the same time, she led her Longhorns tennis team to win the NCAA college championship.
She was only 14 when she first gained a Women’s Tennis Association ranking and would have turned professional earlier, but her mum, Lele, stressed the importance of an education.
Lulu enjoyed having her mum, older sister Phenomena, who also played professional tennis, and her English stepdad in the stands at Wimbledon watching her historic success, becoming the first qualifier to reach the final eight of the tournament in 14 years.
And she found it surreal meeting some of her tennis heroes during the tournament. She especially enjoyed warming up with Martina Navratilova, a fellow left-hander, who won a record nine Wimbledon singles titles. They laughed, chatted and had a selfie together.
“It was an unreal experience to hit with her,” enthuses Lulu. “I used to watch YouTube videos from her playing days before I went to college. I like watching other lefties play.”
She’s been looking forward to reuniting with Erin on the red clay courts of Roland Garros for the Olympic doubles. They first played together at the Billie Jean Cup tournament in China in April, when Lulu made her debut under the New Zealand flag.
“Erin’s so easy-going and she jokes sometimes, but she’s serious when we need to be. We have a really cool dynamic and I’m learning from her too.
“It’s such an amazing thing to be called an Olympian. You have a chance to go for gold, to win medals, and it’s super-cool to represent tennis and also New Zealand. It’s a lot bigger than you.”
Lulu, who now lives between Florida and Slovakia, has been blown away by the love she’s felt from Kiwis since she played in the ASB Classic in Auckland last summer. It helped her make the tough decision to switch national allegiance.
“From the people who came all the way to Wimbledon to watch, to those people back in New Zealand. I wasn’t expecting that much outpouring of love and support,” she says. “It’s been incredible and
I’m super-grateful.
“Okay, I was winning, but I wasn’t that well-known a tennis player, so it was a real honour to feel it.”
Yet with one tournament, she’s already become one of New Zealand’s tennis greats.
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