In the past two stops, the compatriot derby has been defeated one after another, and Xu Shilin's comeback road has encountered bumps in the road

As we all know, a comeback is never easy. Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka of Japan was overturned by Spain's Badosa after she tried her best in the first round of this year's French Open. After the defeat, the player, who is making a comeback in January 2024, couldn't help but cry. Two-time Grand Slam champion Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who returned this year, has only won one tour event, and for a while the Grand Slam champion fell outside the 1,400th place in the world rankings. During this time, there was a comeback Chinese player who also suffered a lot of blows in the Chinese season of the Hope Championship. So, who is the Chinese player? How did she suffer? Let this article take you to a look.

The Chinese player is Xu Shilin. Compared with Naomi Osaka and Kvitova, Xu Shilin is undoubtedly much less famous, but she has made a new breakthrough in Chinese women's tennis. That was in 2014, when Xu Shilin, who won the Youth Olympic Games, became the junior world No. 1. It is worth mentioning that she is the first Chinese player to win the junior world No. 1 title. Not only that, but even after stepping onto the adult arena, Xu Shilin has achieved a good record, she has won a Grand Slam qualifier and won a Challenger tournament.

However, it is a pity that due to various reasons, since 2022, Xu Shilin has not competed on the tennis court for two full years. This makes her, who was once ranked 190th in the world, no longer have any points in the WTA points system, and everything has to start from scratch. It was under such circumstances that since the beginning of March, Xu Shilin, who is almost 30 years old, resolutely chose to make a comeback. Frankly, no matter what the results are, her courage is admirable.

After nearly a month of struggle, Xu Shilin finally reached the quarterfinals at the Hope Tournament in Turkey. This is her first time in the quarterfinals of the Hope Tournament since her comeback. Perhaps because reaching the quarterfinals gave Xu Shilin confidence, after that, it seemed to become commonplace to break through from the Hope Qualifiers. At the end of April, at the Hope Tournament held in Serbia, Xu Shilin also won five consecutive victories from the qualifying round, and reached the semifinals of the Hope Tournament for the first time since his comeback.

In this case, Xu Shilin began to usher in his own world ranking. Although the world ranking is far outside the 1000, this is a great encouragement for Xu Shilin, who has made a comeback. Before June, she had reached the quarter-finals of the Hope Tournament twice. Slowly, but resolutely, he has risen in his world rankings. However, some time ago, after sweeping compatriot Tian Yehua in the second round of the Ma'anshan Hope Qualifying Tournament, Xu Shilin was unable to grasp the advantage in the decisive round of the qualifying round, and was unfortunately out of the game by compatriot Zhang Yunhan in two sets.

In the first round of the Luzhou Qualifying Tournament this week, due to the unexpected withdrawal of wild card player Han Chengwei, Xu Shilin won without a fight and advanced directly; In the second round of the qualifying round, facing compatriot Han Jiangxue, who was far higher than his ranking, Xu Shilin only let his opponent win four games; In the decisive round of the qualifying round, she even sent a duck egg, defeated compatriot Dang Yiming in two straight sets, and successfully entered the main draw of the Luzhou Open.

However, in the first round of the main event, in the face of Hou Yanan's challenge, Xu Shilin only won four games in two sets. Objectively speaking, this can be called a complete defeat, this is the second time Xu Shilin has lost to his opponent after his comeback. This fully shows that her comeback journey is full of ups and downs. I hope that in the next game, Xu Shilin can have a good performance, so let's bless her here. That's it for today, and it will continue tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)