Heading into Wimbledon this week, Li Na is the most recognized face in Chinese tennis. Former Brigham Young-Hawaii All-American Yue Wang is right behind her.

Wang is president of the United States Professional Tennis Association’s China Division, which started last October. He has many other titles, including former member of the China national and Davis Cup teams. He is a tennis consultant for CCTV and BTV, and chief technical adviser for Tennis magazine (China). He is currently the chairman for Beijing Xinyuehai Sports Development Co., Ltd.

And, since working with Li Na’s husband in 2002, Wang has become close friends with the family. His reaction to her win at the French Open was understandably enthusiastic.

"Li Na has done a fantastic job, which gives Chinese people an indescribable feeling of excitement and pride," Wang wrote in an email from Beijing. "Her wonderful performance does not only impose great influence on the Chinese tennis industry, but also creates a new icon for the juniors."

Wang said the game was introduced to China in the late 1800s by businessmen and missionaries. It lagged far behind other racket sports until players such as Li Fang and Yi Jingquian had international success in the 1990s. He calls the surprise gold-medal performance of doubles team Li Ting and Sun Tiantian at the 2004 Olympics a huge turning point for the game, inspiring "government investment and great attention."

The success of Zheng Jie and Yan Zi, who won two Grand Slam doubles titles in 2006, helped singles players break through. Wild card Zheng Jie stunned top seed Ana Ivanovic on her way to the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2008, becoming the first Chinese player to reach the final four at a Grand Slam. Two months later, Li Na beat Venus Williams to finish fourth at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Wang says China’s state-supported system did not offer top players enough flexibility to flourish early on. At the end of 2008, the Chinese Tennis Association started allowing exceptional players, such as Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai, the right to choose their own schedules, coaches and backup teams.

The rest is now history, probably still in the making. China now offers provincial support, individual training and company sponsors, and Wang says teaching methods are being reformed and several elite coaches have come over to help. When Wang was growing up, there were two junior tournaments annually in China. Now there are weekly events and he is running an ITF Junior Circuit that has grown from two stops in 2009 to 16 this year.

"I can say now the game in China has entered a new phase in an all-round way," Wang wrote. "And I am sure that China’s tennis will make more and more achievements in the near future."

Wang won the 1991 NAIA singles championship and captured the Kailua Night Doubles title, with Ryan Ideta, in 1994. Wang describes himself as a tennis promoter. He owns two companies dealing with tennis club management, tournament management, tennis marketing events management and tennis training for juniors and adults. The top men’s player in China is under his supervision, and three boys are now in the world rankings.