Australian coach Sandon Stolle approached several Chinese women's tennis players during warm-up training for the just-concluded Australian Open, telling them that his good friend, Serbian doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic, was looking for a mixed doubles partner.
Sun Tiantian, the 2004 Athens Olympics gold medalist, and whom Stolle coached in 2006, was first to respond.
The 27-year-old from Henan Province had a relatively light schedule in Melbourne after being knocked out of the grand slam tournament's singles qualification round. Apart from women's doubles, on which she focused most of her attention, she thought she might "win some extra prize money for shopping" by playing the mixed doubles.
Two weeks later, the unprepared Sun received much more than she expected after paring with Zimonjic to defeat the Indian duo Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in the final at Rod Laver Arena.
The victory gave Sun her first grand slam trophy and made her the third Chinese grand slam title winner after Zheng Jie and Yan Zi who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon women's doubles titles in 2006.
More importantly, it gave Sun a big confidence boost ahead of August's Beijing Olympics, where Sun is eager to defend her doubles title
"It is such a wonderful start to the Olympic year," she said.
Since her landmark victory in Athens, Sun delivered a solid performance in the women's tour by winning the WTA singles title in 2006 and also reaching No 77 in the world rankings in March 2007.
However, she was overshadowed by her teammate Li Na who became the first Chinese to reach the quarterfinals in a grand slam event, as well as the duo of Zheng and Yan.
The retirement of her former champion partner Li Ting has made things difficult for Sun, and she has struggled to find a consistent doubles partner since 2006.
She has so far won 11 women's doubles titles plus another eight final appearances with six partners.
After testing different partners, the Chinese camp decided to allow Sun to partner with Peng Shuai, a singles specialist who ranked No 31 in the world at the end of last year.
She has set her sights on an Olympic gold medal in Beijing.
"I hope I can be happy there. If I am playing in a good mood, I will be able to give it my best, just like I did in Athens."
牛津实用英语语法:条件句
牛津实用英语语法:258 用做主语
牛津实用英语语法:254 不定式的进行式
牛津实用英语语法:271 be afraid(of),be sorry(for)
牛津实用英语语法:316 say,tell及其他可替代使用的引导动词
牛津实用英语语法:277 代替从句的现在分词短语
牛津实用英语语法:295 care,like,love,hate,prefer
牛津实用英语语法:224 if从句中的will/would和should
牛津实用英语语法:274 catch,find,leave+宾语+现在分词
牛津实用英语语法:281 祈使句表示命令
牛津实用英语语法:268 regret,remember,forget
牛津实用英语语法:275 go,come,spend,waste,be busy
牛津实用英语语法:251 某些特定的名词之后的不定式
牛津实用英语语法:264 动名词的完成式
牛津实用英语语法:241 不定式作宾语和作表语
牛津实用英语语法:269 agree/agree to,mean,propose
牛津实用英语语法:278 分词的完成式(主动语态)
牛津实用英语语法:257 形式和用法
牛津实用英语语法:243 动词或动词+宾语之后的不定式
牛津实用英语语法:223 条件句类型3
牛津实用英语语法:209 一般将来时的用法
牛津实用英语语法:248 分裂不定式
牛津实用英语语法:214 将来进行时与will +动词原形的比较
牛津实用英语语法:262 动词+所有格形容词/宾格代词+动名词
牛津实用英语语法:261 后面可以跟动名词的动词
牛津实用英语语法:239 不定式用法
牛津实用英语语法:208 第一人称will和shall
牛津实用英语语法:288 may/might as well+动词原形表示劝告
牛津实用英语语法:256 不定式的完成进行式
牛津实用英语语法:294 care和like
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