Britain's Andy Murray faced down his Grand Slam nemesis Roger Federer in an electrifying five-set thriller to reach the Australian Open final on Friday night.
Although his first major main draw run ended prematurely, Wu Di has impressed the tennis world with his future prospect.
Media have been used to pack the main interview room at the Australian Open for glimpses of either Roger Federer's stylish speech or Novak Djokovic's witty humor after their big winning nights.
Despite a disappointing debut, Wu Di was especially pleased by the court-side support. The fact that he had got as far as the main draw match immediately brought Wu into the spotlight and numerous off-court activities.
Wu Di's Australian Open adventure lasted little more than three hours with a first-round exit on Tuesday, but China's first man to play the main draw of a grand slam in the professional era relished every minute of his debut on a windswept minor court.
Having gone through ups and downs of professional tennis for 12 years, Peng Shuai, China's youngest star on the WTA Tour, remains fresh and positive about the game.
Novak Djokovic served up only flashes of his best tennis on the opening day of the Australian Open but took a comfortable first step on the path he hopes will lead to an unprecedented hat-trick of titles at Melbourne Park in two weeks' time.
Veteran Zheng Jie's opening match was much harder than she expected, but the Chinese world No 40 was happy to be pushed all the way by a teenage compatriot.
To ease the stress of his Grand Slam main draw debut, Wu Di's French coach, David Moreau, took him to Melbourne's China Town on the eve of his Australian Open debut.
Take a walk around the Grand Slam Oval at Melbourne Park and it is easy to see why Australia has such high expectations of tennis success.
Li Na's Melbourne Park nemesis Kim Clijsters no longer stalks the Australian Open draw but her absence is no cause for celebration, according to the Chinese sixth seed.
Li Na returns to her favorite Grand Slam in high spirits, but not completely happy.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 
