On the afternoon of July 30, Zhang Zhizhen and Wang Xinyu, who were eliminated from the men's and women's singles tennis competitions at the Paris Olympics, used their mobile phones to search for tickets leaving Paris. At that time, none of them would have imagined that four days later, they would create a new history of Chinese tennis in Roland Garros.

On August 2, in the tennis mixed doubles final of the Paris Olympics, the Chinese pair competed with a 2 - 2 victory.:6、7:5、8:10 regrets losing to the Czech group. Although he failed to win the gold medal, the silver medal was also a major breakthrough.

So, how can Wang Xinyu/Zhang Zhizhen, who has just formed a team for four days, make history?

On the technical level, Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen are both players in singles and doubles "two-line combat". Their personal ability and cooperation enabled the two to show a surprise performance of "1+1>2" in the competition.

According to official data, the two are now ranked around 40th in the singles world, which is a relatively competitive ranking among athletes participating in mixed doubles at this year's Olympic Games. In terms of doubles, in 2023, Wang Xinyu won the women's doubles Grand Slam championship trophy on Roland Garros's center court; while Zhang Zhizhen partnered with the day's mixed doubles final opponent Mahaqi in the men's doubles. The two won the men's doubles championship in an ATP250 tour in February this year.

This means that while the two players have relatively comprehensive personal abilities, they also have rich doubles experience. Wang Xinyu once said after the first round of the mixed doubles match:"I feel relieved when he is in front of the net, at the bottom line, and when he serves." Zhang Zhizhen also said:"She is a French Open Grand Slam and has a lot worth learning from."

In addition, in competitive sports, for a combination like Wang Xinyu/Zhang Zhizhen, the biggest advantage of "inadvertent interference" may be the mentality.

Unlike other touring events, many tennis players are under tremendous pressure at the Olympics. Take the world's number one women's singles player Sviatke as an example. After losing to Chinese player Zheng Qinwen in the Olympic women's singles semi-finals, the Polish athlete passed through the mixed mining area with red and swollen eyes and said nothing.

But if you have watched any of the mixed doubles matches of Wang Xinyu/Zhang Zhizhen, you will surely be able to easily detect their relaxed mentality from their playing status.

In the past four games, this group of "big hearts" combinations have lost the first set and then "snatched the ten" in each game. Regardless of whether a score was scored or not, the two would smile and high-fives after each ball ended. Although jokes are often made in the mixed mining area, the two men's reactions are surprisingly consistent when talking about the adversity they face on the field.:"We never complain about each other on the court."

After winning the semi-finals, Zhang Zhizhen revealed the psychological state of the two men during the competition in the mixed mining area:"In fact, after these three games, we were constantly groping and fighting hard in the first set. After the first set, we knew how to respond and adjust in time."

In addition to being relaxed,"emotional stability" is also the key to the pair's victory. On July 31, the quarterfinals of the two men were held in the outfield. At the critical stage of the game, an audience member loudly interfered with the players several times. But the two were not affected too much. Zhang Zhizhen, who has a relatively outgoing personality, was influenced by his partner Wang Xinyu's "stabilizing emotions" and gradually found a way to get along with off-the-field factors-confrontation is better than enjoyment. Therefore, when he met "super cheerleaders" Dutch fans in the semi-finals, Zhang Zhizhen even danced to the cheering rhythm of the opposing fans.

During Roland Garros during the Olympics, the reporter once met Bai Xilin, the tennis team leader of the Chinese sports delegation. Facing the performance of Chinese tennis players, he lamented:"A single branch alone is not spring, but a hundred flowers bloom all over the garden." It is precisely because of the improvement of overall strength that athletes can step onto the podium in such "temporary" circumstances.

Perhaps, for Chinese tennis, this silver medal is an unexpected joy, but it is not entirely an unexpected joy.