Furthermore, with all the newfound liberties come new complications.

The local tennis icon now has to find venues to train in, book (and pay for) her flights and hotels, and spend time on other energy-draining trifles that bedevil the rest of the professional tennis world.

"I just want to focus on tennis and think about nothing else. I don't want to be distracted," said the 25-year-old, who became the first Chinese to reach the final four of a Grand Slam in July.

Her professional makeover began with building her own team, comprising a coach (her husband), a doctor (from her hometown) and a personal assistant. This contingent, tiny when compared to the retinue of followers who surround other major players and beef up their respective hype machines, is all she needs for now, she says. Even her doctor has seen her through her roughest time yet: he helped her recover from the worst injury of her career that saw her sidelined for more than six months in 2007.

"I just want to take this whole thing slowly," said Zheng, adding that she may look for a top athletic trainer in the near future.

The two-time Grand Slam doubles title winner stressed that she wants to do things her way, rather than modeling herself on other stars and how they choose to manage their careers.

"Why do I have to resemble others?" she asked. "I am a Chinese player. I want to be myself. It's impossible to copy their way of doing things. And they can't copy me because they are not living in the same situation."

She said her relationship with the CTA is still stronger, and closer, than most other players experience in other countries - a view confirmed by high-ranking officials in Beijing.

"The players can ask for help anytime they want," said Gao Shenyang, deputy head of the CTA. "If they don't like the new format after trying it for a while, they are free to revert to the old system."

Zheng will start her new season with an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong early next month. She will then fly to Austria for the Jan 9-16 Hobart International.

(China Daily December 31, 2008)