"It is tough to make the last four at Wimbledon. The success gave me a lot more confidence at the Beijing Games."

With none of her family playing tennis, Zheng got into tennis as a child only by accident.

"When I was a child, I was very sporty and lively and my parents wanted me to have more practice, to be healthy," she told the Wimbledon's official website.

"At that time there were not many people who knew the tennis game in China, but as soon as I started to play I fell in love with it."

The Tennis Administrative Center has groomed a batch of female talents since 2003. The diminutive Zheng is not among the strongest players, but certainly the most mentally-tough, notably at the 2006 Asian Games when she held on to claim singles and doubles titles after China's shock loss of the team gold.

Gao believed Zheng was a blueprint for a new generation of players.

"Zheng has two reasons to win. One is her mentality. She never gives up until the last moment. The second is her way of playing -- speed, variety, cleverness. That can represent the future direction of development of Chinese players."

The star player from southwest China's Sichuan province has promised to donate her Wimbledon prize money to victims of the May 12 devastating earthquake that shattered parts of her home region.

She earned 375,000 U.S. dollars for reaching the semifinals.

"I will donate all my portion and apart from that I will do as much as I can to help the people of the region," Zheng said.

"I will do more charity work and encourage more people to come and support the stricken area."

(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2008)