Taiwanese professional tennis player Yen-Hsun (Rendy) Lu, whose defeat of U.S. tennis player Andy Roddick in Wimbledon this June of this year created a phenomenon, got married with his girl-friend of seven-year relationship in a church on December 4.
While his fans cheered him on for his marriage, Lu, who always wears a cross necklace, was able to walk on this lonely path of defeats, injuries, recovery, and overseas competitions because of his Christian faith and family.
Compared to Baseball and Basketball, tennis has always been a sport that didn’t attract much attention in Taiwan. Few have decided to pursue professional tennis careers, which require a long and difficult journey to fame.
This year has been Lu’s best so far. Including the fantastic performance during the four single matches in Wimbledon town, the Taiwanese tennis player has also won the team gold medal in Guangzhou Asian Games, which has just concluded.
Growing up in a Christian family, Lu was inspired by his father who loved Tennis; however, his father’s sudden cardiac death ten years ago came as a shock to him as he was transferring from junior league to professional league,
“I was very upset. But because of faith and the support of family, I was able to walk through.” In an interview after the Wimbledon competitions, he said that being able to have such great performances in these four matches at his father’s favorite Wimbledon may be God’s arrangement.
Commenting on his miraculous performance, Lu’s mother Hsu Su-Fen said in the interview that this is a miracle that God gave him. His brother also expressed that every time Rendy would go to a competition he and his mother would go to church to pray for him. Though he didn’t win every match, the hope is to see that he would have a good performance in every match to glorify God. The members of the church have also given him great support.
Lu said that faith has accompanied him through down-times and difficulties, and it is a very important aspect of his professional career, so he has always worn the cross while playing tennis.
In 2003, Lu suffered a shoulder injury, which was when he faced a serious down-time after his ranking has advanced to the first 200 from 1,341 in the world. He tried various methods to increase the ranking but failed. As a self-demanding person, he was very upset then. But faith allowed him to learn to be grateful, and to thank God for every test to train his patience. Faith has always driven him to gain the courage to face the challenges ahead.
Lu chose the day of his father’s death as his marriage date – the wedding that day meant a lot to him. Although his father cannot be there, Lu keeps moving forward in the new stages of life under the blessings from his family and friends.
When asked by the media his following plans, he smiled shyly and said, “I do not have time for honeymoon, for I have to go to Kenya for practice, so I have to ask my wife to go together with me.”
[Editor's note: Jamie Pan translated this report.]
