Zheng making name for herself

WIMBLEDON, England -- As an exhilarating and surprising Wimbledon semifinalist, Zheng Jie will win at least 187,500 British pounds, which on Tuesday came to almost $374,000 -- about 20% of her $1.815 million in career earnings.

Hailing from Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, the epicenter of the May 12 earthquake, she plans on giving an undetermined percentage of her winnings to earthquake relief.

“Yeah, it’s hard for me because in China, sometimes it’s a different pressure,” she said. “If you play so well, you have the more pressure on you. So I would like to give all the prize money but cannot, you know. I need to give back to something like the [Chinese] tennis association.”

As she has carved a path through No. 31 Dominika Cibulkova, No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, No. 15 Agnes Szavay and No. 22 Nicole Vaidisova -- “I don’t think it’s luck,” said Serena Williams, her next opponent -- Zheng has become the first Asian semifinalist in a Grand Slam event, and has epitomized China’s arrival as a sports player.

She also has spoken of returning to China next week to prepare for her country’s top priority, the Olympics that begin Aug. 8. Yet her return will have broader meaning.

“When I go back,” she said, “I will do more charity work and encourage more people come to support the stricken region and hope people from Sichuan will have their new home as soon as possible.”