Lu Yen-Hsun, the pride of Taiwan, and the nation's best tennis player was selected today as the country's 2010 MAN OF THE YEAR. That is right folks, not Sportsman of the year but rather the highest honor a person can receive in Taiwan.
Taiwan is not a country rich of Sports accomplishments. They are perhaps better known for having a few baseball players reach the Major League Baseball in the United States. One of them being Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang.
Tennis was for years overshadowed by the likes of Baseball and various Martial Arts which are far more popular in the country. The nation however came to a stop earlier this year during Wimbledon when little known Lu Yen-Hsun shocked the world by defeating Andy Roddick 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 9-7 in a thrilling 5 set 4th Round encounter. Lu would go on to lose in the Quarterfinals to Novak Djokovic, but he had already set his place in history becoming the first Taiwanese player to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal. Doing it at the historic Wimbledon tournament, made it that much special.
His upset of Roddick created the highest TV ratings the island saw all year. After Wimbledon, Lu moved up to a then career high of 42, he later would go on to reach a new high of 32 in November 2010.
The Man of the Year award was actually not even a close contest. Lu finished with 60% of all votes, defeating even the nation's president (Ma Ying-jeou). Lu's success and worldwide attention have put tennis back on the map in the country of Taiwan a merit that makes this Award well deserved.
1 comment:
Lu may never be a top-10 player but he can certainly reach another GS quarterfinal in 2011
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