Members of the Kiwi tennis star Lulu Sun’s tennis club are fizzing with excitement after she continued her stunning run to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.

Te Anau Tennis Club president Greg Sheppard said there were a few tears in the crowd when she triumphed this morning.

“It’s too exciting. We’re proud as punch.”

He said roughly 20 people - mostly club members and fans - were present at one point, watching the match.

“It was pretty nerve-racking. We got here at 2.30am. It was a terrible time for tennis to start, but we got into it once it started.”

Sheppard said everyone would get together to watch the match on Tuesday night.

However, he was confident Sun would win, saying “I’m thinking about the semifinal.”

Sheppard thought having Sun doing well on an international stage would be massive for tennis in New Zealand.

“Hopefully tennis will grow in New Zealand. I’m pretty sure it will grow down in Te Anau.”

The club president hoped Sun would come and see everyone at the club the next time she was in New Zealand.

“I know she has a pretty busy schedule, but we normally see her when she comes home,” he said.

Playing in the second week for the first time and making her maiden appearance on centre court, the 23-year-old was cool and composed throughout in a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory over British hometown favourite Emma Raducanu in a match that lasted almost three hours.

After being a set down in the second round of qualifying, Sun is now two sets away from a semifinal spot at the grand slam.

Sun is the first qualifier to reach the final eight at Wimbledon since 2010 and is the first New Zealand female to get as far as the quarter-finals on the famous grass courts.

Who is Lulu Sun?

Born in Te Anau, Sun spent the first five years of her life there, before her parents took the family to Switzerland.

She later gained a scholarship to the University of Texas and has been pursuing her tennis dreams for more than a decade, travelling the world extensively as a junior, then on the WTA tour.

The 23-year-old switched her allegiance from Switzerland to New Zealand in February.

When you ask Sun about her Te Anau childhood recollections, the answer brings an immediate smile.

“Basically, it is farm life, cows, chickens and sheep,” says Sun. “I would help my sister to pick up the eggs, collect the vegetables and stuff like that. Riding horses, feeding the rabbits. There is not much around. Just forests and farmlands.”

Those experiences left a deep impression. With her grandmother still in Te Anau (she moved here from China in 1998), Sun has visited regularly over the years, as often as she can outside tennis commitments.

“Most of my memories are about spending time in nature with my family,” says Sun. “We have visited all the famous spots, but I’ve also spent time bushwalking, camping and getting my hands dirty.”

This year has been significant for her. There was the ASB Classic run followed by a special week in Melbourne, where she qualified for a grand slam main draw for the first time. Sun made the second round in Dubai – getting past former world No 2 Paula Badosa – then took out a WTA US$100,000 tournament in Florida in April.

David Williams is an Auckland-based Multimedia Journalist who joined the Herald in 2023. He covers breaking news and general topics.

- NZ Herald