Lulu Sun announced as first marquee player after remarkable year

Rising New Zealand tennis star, Lulu Sun has been rewarded for her meteoric rise in the world rankings as the first feature player named for the 2025 ASB Classic in Auckland.

The 23-year-old Sun climbed over 200 places in the world rankings over the past 12 months to a career-high 53, the highest singles ranking for a New Zealand player since Marina Erakovic more than a decade ago.

ASB Classic tournament director Nicolas Lamperin said Sun’s superb 2024 season warranted the recognition as the first marquee player named for the tournament.

“It has been a long time since New Zealand has had a player that we can spotlight in singles.

“Lulu’s rise in the world rankings over the last 12 months especially, has been among the most spectacular of any player on the WTA Tour.

“This deserves not only our support, but it is fitting that Lulu is the first player we are announcing among our marquee players for the 2025 ASB Classic, after becoming the first New Zealand female player in the Open Era to make the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

“One of the goals of the ASB Classic is to help showcase and develop New Zealand tennis talent on our biggest tennis stage.”

Sun, who switched her tennis allegiance to her native New Zealand this year, made her debut in the Billie Jean Cup. Her breakthrough WTA main draw win came at Seoul in 2022, and she moved into the world’s top 200 for the first time after winning the ITF title in Brasilia last year.

She has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the rankings accelerated with her remarkable run at Wimbledon this year, going through all three rounds of qualifying and ultimately making it through to the quarter-finals, including wins over former US Open champion Emma Raducanu and Paris Olympics Gold medalist, Qinwen Zheng.

Sun rose to 53 in the world, with the last New Zealander to be ranked in the world’s top 60 being Erakovic in 2014.

“I feel super-excited and privileged to return to play at the ASB Classic,” said Sun. “I had a great experience and great time at the ASB Classic this year – with the amazing vibrance, energy and all the people in the organisation. So I am super-super excited to play it again.

“This tournament is important because I get to play in front of a home crowd, in front of all the New Zealand fans. I played on Centre Court this year which was super-cool and so to be able to do it again is going to be insane and epic, and I am really looking forward to it.”

Sun said her current ranking is a major boost for her fledgling career.

“I’m going to be able to play more WTA tournaments. It will be a lot easier to schedule in tournaments. It helps if you’re able to schedule better and go to the tournaments where you know in advance where you’re going to go, it helps with preparation and training,” she said after her Wimbledon run ended.

“It will definitely help my development and progress. Even when you’re ranked 80 or 90, it’s really a tough environment because when you’re playing the ITFs you’re not getting as much money as you do playing the top events like the grand slams or the top WTA events. You have to pay everything by yourself. And this is not exactly a cheap sport.”

Lamperin, currently at the US Open, said he is thrilled with the interest from several leading internationals and expects to announce other key signings in the coming weeks. He said the tournament planning is progressing well with tickets set to go on sale next week.

Fans can secure their tickets with The Classic Club pre-sale beginning on Monday, August 21 and General Public on sale from Friday, August 30, with Sun expected to receive plenty of support for a likely centre-court appearance at the ASB Classic.

The women’s tournament at the ASB Tennis Arena runs from December 30 to Sunday, January 5, with the men’s event from Monday, January 6 to Saturday, January 11.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission