Lulu Sun Bio
Lulu Sun (Chinese: 孙璐璐; pinyin: Sūn Lùlù, née Lulu Radovcic; born 14 April 2001) is a New Zealand professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 39 by the Women’s Tennis Association, achieved on 9 September 2024, and a best doubles ranking of No. 190, reached on 24 February 2025. Standing 173 cm tall, Sun represents New Zealand in international competition and has emerged as one of the country’s most successful players in recent decades.
Early Life and Background
Lulu Sun was born Lulu Radovčić in Te Anau, a small town in the South Island of New Zealand. Her mother is Chinese and her father is Croatian, and she briefly lived in Shanghai as a young child before moving abroad. From the age of five, Sun was raised in Geneva, Switzerland, where she completed her school education while continuing to visit New Zealand to spend time with family. She has an older sister, Phenomena Sun, born in 1998, who played in professional tennis tournaments until 2016.
Sun speaks English, French, and Mandarin Chinese fluently and has expressed interest in adding Korean and Japanese to her repertoire. Her multicultural upbringing across New Zealand, China, and Switzerland shaped a cosmopolitan outlook that later influenced her academic path. After finishing secondary school in Geneva, Sun moved to the United States to attend college and pursue competitive tennis at a high level.
Path to Tennis
Sun was introduced to competitive tennis through the ITF Women’s Circuit as a teenager, initially competing under her birth name, Lulu Radovcic. She later changed her surname to Sun, her mother’s maiden name, and began representing Switzerland at junior events. In 2018, she reached the girls’ doubles final at the Australian Open alongside Violet Apisah and also played junior Wimbledon that year under the New Zealand flag, gaining early exposure to Grand Slam environments.
After completing high school in Switzerland, Sun enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin in 2020 on a tennis scholarship. Playing one season for the Texas Longhorns, she posted a strong 15–1 singles record on court three and helped the team win the 2021 NCAA championship, clinching the final against Pepperdine 4–3. She graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in international relations and global studies, completing the program in just three years before transitioning to the professional tour.
Lulu Sun Career
Early Career (2022)
Sun turned professional in May 2022 and quickly recorded her first significant ITF title at the Saint-Gaudens Open, winning the doubles event with Fernanda Contreras. Two days later she made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the Morocco Open after receiving a wildcard into the singles draw. Although she lost her opening match to seventh seed Arantxa Rus, the appearance marked her formal entry into the top tier of women’s tennis.
Over the following months, Sun balanced ITF Circuit events with qualifying attempts at WTA tournaments, steadily building her ranking. Her developmental phase focused on accumulating match experience on clay and hard courts across Europe and North Africa.
2024: Wimbledon Quarterfinal, WTA 500 Final, Top 40
The 2024 season transformed Sun’s career. After qualifying for the Australian Open and bowing out in the first round, she made her WTA 1000 debut at the Dubai Championships, where she earned her first win at that level as a wildcard following the retirement of Paula Badosa. In April, she debuted for New Zealand at the Billie Jean King Cup, and in May she swept the singles and doubles titles at the W100 Bonita Springs Championship in Florida, breaking into the top 125 by mid-June.
Sun’s defining moment arrived at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. After upsetting eighth seed Zheng Qinwen in the first round for her first top-10 victory, she advanced past qualifier Yulia Starodubtseva and Zhu Lin to become the first New Zealand woman in the Open Era to reach the fourth round at the All England Club. She then eliminated Emma Raducanu to become the first New Zealand woman ever to reach a Wimbledon quarterfinal in the Open Era and only the second New Zealand woman to reach any major quarterfinal, following Belinda Cordwell at the 1989 Australian Open. Her run ended in three sets against Donna Vekić, but the performance announced her arrival on the global stage.
Later in the summer, Sun qualified for the Cincinnati Open and won her first-round match before falling to Marta Kostyuk. She then reached her first WTA Tour-level final at the newly upgraded WTA 500 Monterrey Open, defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semifinals before losing the final to Linda Nosková in straight sets. The result pushed her into the top 40, and although her season ended prematurely due to a hip injury sustained at the US Open, she was named WTA Newcomer of the Year in December 2024.
2025: First WTA 125 Title, Guangzhou Final
Sun opened 2025 with four opening-round defeats before securing her first victory of the year at the Abu Dhabi Open over Caroline Garcia. At the Indian Wells WTA 1000 event, she reached the third round with wins over Rebecca Šramková and 31st seed Linda Nosková before losing to eighth seed Zheng Qinwen. Partnering Leylah Fernandez, she finished runner-up in doubles at the WTA 125 Catalonia Open in May, falling to Bianca Andreescu and Aldila Sutjiadi in the final.
After early exits at the French Open and Wimbledon, Sun found momentum during the North American hard-court swing. She won her first-round match at the Canadian Open against Sorana Cîrstea and reached the second round at the Cincinnati Open. At the US Open, she defeated Camila Osorio to record her first major win since Wimbledon 2024 before losing to 19th seed Elise Mertens in the second round. In September, she captured her first WTA 125 title at the Jingshan Open, defeating Ma Yexin in the final. She followed that with a deep run at the Guangzhou Open, defeating top seed Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro, Wang Yafan, Caty McNally, and Claire Liu to reach her second WTA Tour final, where she lost in straight sets to second seed Ann Li. Despite the defeat, her performance lifted her 28 places to No. 88 in the world by late October 2025.
Playing Style and Strengths
Sun is recognized for her composed baseline game and tactical patience on both hard and clay courts. Her strong return game produced her breakthrough upset over Zheng Qinwen at Wimbledon, and her willingness to grind through long rallies has been a hallmark of her late-season comebacks. She credits her multicultural upbringing for the language skills that allow her to navigate international locker rooms and connect with players from diverse backgrounds.
Notable Events and Milestones
Sun’s signature achievement remains her run to the 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinal, a result that established her as the most successful New Zealand woman in Grand Slam singles history in the Open Era. She added her first WTA 125 title at Jingshan in September 2025 and reached her first WTA 500 final at Monterrey the previous year. Her December 2024 WTA Newcomer of the Year award formally recognized her rapid rise from college tennis to the world’s top 40.
Lulu Sun Career Wins
Across all levels, Lulu Sun has compiled a balanced record of titles in singles and doubles, with her biggest trophies coming at the NCAA, ITF, WTA 125, and W100 levels.
WTA and Major Highlights
Sun’s deepest major run came at Wimbledon 2024, where she reached the quarterfinal. She has also reached one WTA 500 final at Monterrey 2024 and one WTA Tour final at Guangzhou 2025, both ending in straight-sets losses. Her maiden WTA 125 title arrived at Jingshan in September 2025, defeating Ma Yexin in the championship match.
Other Wins and Performances
Before turning professional, Sun won the 2021 NCAA singles championship match for the University of Texas at Austin. She captured her first ITF doubles title at the 2022 Saint-Gaudens Open and won the W100 Bonita Springs Championship in both singles and doubles in May 2024. These lower-tier titles provided the foundation for her rapid ranking ascent.
Lulu Sun Family
Family Background and Tennis Lineage
Sun was born to a Chinese mother and a Croatian father, whose surnames shaped her own family identity. She adopted her mother’s maiden name, Sun, when she transitioned into professional tennis, honoring her maternal heritage. Her older sister, Phenomena Sun, played professional tennis until 2016, giving Lulu an early family connection to the sport.
Personal Life
Sun was raised primarily in Geneva, Switzerland, where she completed her school education, and she continues to divide time between Europe and New Zealand. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2022 with a degree in international relations and global studies, an academic interest that complements her multilingual fluency in English, French, and Mandarin Chinese.
2025 Season Performance
The 2025 season has been one of steady recovery and milestone achievement for Lulu Sun. After a slow start that included four opening-round defeats, she found her rhythm with a win over former top-five player Caroline Garcia at the Abu Dhabi Open. Her third-round appearance at the Indian Wells WTA 1000 was a promising signal that she was regaining form after the hip injury that ended her 2024 campaign.
Her consistency improved during the summer hard-court swing, highlighted by a runner-up doubles finish at the WTA 125 Catalonia Open, a second-round showing at the Canadian Open, and a first major main-draw win of the season at the US Open over Camila Osorio. The turning point came in September, when she captured her first WTA 125 title at the Jingshan Open. Less than a month later, she reached her second WTA Tour final at the Guangzhou Open, defeating top seed Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro along the way before losing to Ann Li.
The combination of her Jingshan title and Guangzhou final propelled her back into the top 100, jumping 28 places to No. 88 by late October 2025. With momentum on her side and her ranking trending upward, Sun’s late-2025 form suggests she is well positioned to push back toward her career high of No. 39 in the seasons ahead.