Pune: By the time Lulu Sun was in middle school, she was grappling with an identity crisis. Born in New Zealand to a Chinese mother and Croatian father, she attended school in Switzerland. If the internal torment wasn’t enough, she was constantly taunted for being the only person of Asian descent in her school.
“Growing up, I sort of had this question about where do I belong,” she said, on the sidelines of the Billie Jean King Cup Open in Pune. “When I was a teenager and trying to find myself and see where I belong in society, me and my sister were the only Asian kids in school. We had experiences of facing racism. It was really tough.”
It was at that stage that she started to immerse herself more in tennis. She had questions about her background, and tennis gave her an identity. And on the first day of the premier women’s tennis team event here, Sun made her presence felt.
On Tuesday, New Zealand began their campaign in the Asia/Oceania Group 1 stage against India. And with her team trailing 1-0 after Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty beat Aishi Das, Sun, the highest-ranked player at the tournament at world No.45, brought them level with a straight-sets win over Sahaja Yamalapalli. A short while later, she paired up with Monique Barry to beat Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare in the doubles to secure the tie.
Interestingly, she only started representing New Zealand at the senior level last year, having played for Switzerland before that.
“It was a really tough decision to make because they’re both a part of me,” she said. “But I saw that there was an opportunity to grow the sport in New Zealand.”
Her beginning in the sport, she recalled, was more because her elder sister wanted to play. “I just got put into it with her,” she said.
The early years were “terrible”. But she liked the routine of finishing school and then spending time on court. She finished runner-up in the 2018 Australian Open junior girls doubles event before tennis took her to the United States for college – she led the University of Texas to the NCAA title in 2021.
But in the professional circuit, she caused a stir when she reached the Wimbledon quarter-final last year, that too after being given a qualifying wildcard.
“I really wanted to get to the main draw because the qualifiers are (at a different venue),” she said. “I was just so happy to qualify and play the top players. (Beating Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen) gave me that feeling that I’m not too bad at tennis.”
The tennis court didn’t ask who she was, it just gave her a comfort zone.
“It’s just you and your opponent. All you have to do is hit within the lines and over the net,” she added. She managed to do that and a lot more on Tuesday.
