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Lulu Sun has transformed New Zealand tennis – in a way no one could have imagined.

It’s been 15 months since Sun, who was born in Te Anau but spent most of her life living in the United States and Switzerland, decided to represent her country of birth. The decision felt big at the time and was widely celebrated within Tennis New Zealand.

But no one knew quite how big.

“It’s been huge for us,” Tennis NZ chief executive Julie Patterson told the Herald on Sunday. “The impact has been massive.”

Ranked world No 46, Sun will again command centre stage in our sporting consciousness this week as Wimbledon gets under way. The attention comes off the back of her remarkable efforts last year, when she became the first New Zealand woman to reach the last eight at SW19. Backing up that achievement will be difficult – but it’s still a big deal just to have a Kiwi in the main singles draw.

There hasn’t been a New Zealand male at that level since Brett Steven in 1999, while Marina Erakovic was the only female to play Grand Slam singles this century, with her last main-draw appearance in 2017.

Sun has also created a ripple effect. In April, New Zealand reached the playoffs round of the world group stage of the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time since 1993. That era included our finest female player, Belinda Cordwell (former world No 17 and Australian Open semifinalist), along with Julie Richardson, who reached a career high of No 100 in singles. Since then, it’s been a grind. We haven’t often been close to that level and sometimes it felt like the team would be stuck in regional obscurity forever.

But not anymore, as they can look forward to a World Group tie in November in Poland, a three-nation tournament with the host country and Romania.

The team deserve credit but Sun’s contribution was massive. She was undefeated across the week in India – winning all four of her singles matches against India, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan – and the crucial doubles battles. Her presence not only inspired her teammates but also lifted their levels, shown by the impressive play of New Zealand No 2 Monique Barry, who managed some vital victories.

Lulu Sun at the 2024 ASB Classic. Photo / Photosport

Sun confirmed her switch of allegiance on March 15, 2024. She was already on the rise, climbing from outside the top 200 with her run through qualifying at the ASB Classic, then reaching the main draw in Melbourne. In April last year, Sun took out a WTA100 event in Florida, before the staggering Wimbledon run, where she beat hometown favourite Emma Raducanu on the way and captured the imagination both here and overseas.

“The media profile that [run] gave our sport was incredible,” said Paterson. “We haven’t seen that for a long, long time. It’s something you almost can’t measure.”

Tennis NZ, thanks mostly to private backers, had invested significantly in Sun, as part of the support deal agreed to play under the New Zealand flag, but it has paid off in spades. In August 2024, she won the WTA 500 tournament in Monterrey and was later honoured as the WTA newcomer of the year. Sun also headlined the 2025 ASB Classic – bringing a much greater local focus to that event, in what was a huge build-up, even if her first-round exit was an anticlimax.

This year has been tougher, though she beat former world No 4 Caroline Garcia in Dubai, then reached the third round at Indian Wells, considered the fifth major. She won matches in Madrid and Rome (her first main-draw successes on clay) before the eye-catching result at Eastbourne last week, beating world No 16 and top seed Daria Kasatkina, which put her back among the headlines.

Lulu Sun celebrates winning a game against Daria Kasatkina during day one of the Eastbourne Open. Photo / Getty Images

Alongside the doubles success of Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe, there is a buzz and visibility around the sport that hasn’t present for years. That is expected to translate into more kids trying tennis – with anecdotal evidence that playing numbers have increased.

“It has had an effect across the board,” said Paterson of Sun’s switch. “The coverage, the media profile, the effect on the team – it lifts our younger players, gives them something to aspire to. Having someone operating at that level lifts everyone involved in the sport.”

The next two months are pivotal for Sun. The 24-year-old has a ton of ranking points to defend at Wimbledon (470) and Monterrey (325), which comprise a major proportion of her current ranking (1201 points).

However, she will also have the chance to make up ground in the final three months of the 2025 season, as she only took the court once last year after the US Open, due to injury problems.

Sun was handed a tricky first-round draw at Wimbledon, against Czech world No 47 Marie Bouzkova. Though she avoided a seed, Bouzkova has decent pedigree at Wimbledon – reaching the quarter-finals in 2022 and the fourth round a year later – and more experience: she is about to feature in her eighth campaign in London compared to Sun’s third. The winner of their match should face world No 1 and top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the second round.