This past Saturday, tennis player Zheng Qinwen of Team China did something no Chinese person has ever done, winning the country’s first Olympic gold in tennis singles.

Making history aside, Zheng played exceptionally impressive tennis during her first Olympic run. After becoming the second Chinese woman in history to make it into the semi-finals, Zheng eliminated Polish player Iga Swiatek, current world number one and reigning undefeated champion of the clay courts. Switek carried a 25 match unbeaten streak at Stade Roland Garros, home to the French Open and the Paris Olympics’ tennis matches, and Zheng beat her at her own game.

The final lasted only an hour and a half, with Zheng dominating Croatian player Donna Vekíc with motivated, incisive, and steady strokes. Heading into the game, Zheng told interviewers that despite an entire week of intense matches leading up to the final, she felt none of the heavy nerves she had heading into the finals for the Australian Open earlier this year, which she eventually lost. In the place of nerves was renewed “mental strength.”

After biting into the gold, Zheng credited the giants in Chinese Olympic history for inspiring her inner strength. Zheng said she repeatedly watched track athlete Liu Xiang’s 2004 Athens win to motivate herself ahead of her matches.

Chinese tennis legend Li Na, the only Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles title, is a personal hero to Zheng. An image of Zheng watching Li winning the 2014 Australian Open amongst a group of young girls has circulated widely online.

Zheng’s father also played a huge role in her success. As a former track athlete himself, he was determined to cultivate her athletic talents. The family moved from their hometown of Shiyan in Hubei province to Wuhan, and later to Beijing so that Zheng could play with Li’s former coach Carlos Rodriguez.

Tennis is an expensive sport in China that many consider reserved for the “royalty.” Netizens and the media were quick to speculate that Zheng’s family had invested over 20 million RMB on her tennis journey. Zheng responded and told interviewers that her dad had sold their house to pay for her tennis dreams.

Whether or not the roots of her success lie in her family’s financial investment or her father’s tough parenting style, it is clear that Zheng herself has worked extremely hard to make history as a Chinese athlete in a sport largely dominated by Euro-American players.

And at the end of the day, Zheng believes this is all so much bigger than herself.

“This victory is incomparable to anything else. To me and my family, the Olympics has always been more important than the Grand Slam, because to us, the honor of the country is more valuable than the honor of the individual. That’s what I think, and I think every Chinese person would agree,” Zheng told interviewers.

Banner image via South China Morning Post.