China has aced its way onto Graf's list of faves

Panda-loving German great happy to bear witness to game's growth here

Being the global ambassador for the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai comes with plenty of perks for German tennis legend Steffi Graf.

As well as being able to witness the sport's rapid growth in China, Graf gets to sample some of the country's best tourist attractions in between her promotional duties.

Having climbed the Great Wall and crossed the epic Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge on previous trips, the 22-time Grand Slam champion this year fulfilled another bucket-list dream - visiting Sichuan province's panda reserve.

Before arriving in Zhuhai, a southern coastal city close to Macao, Graf, who began her ambassadorial work for the Elite Trophy in 2016, visited the world-renowned Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in the provincial capital to learn more about the bears.

"I made a point the last two years to try to do something that I haven't seen and always wanted to experience, and one of those was to visit the panda reserve in Chengdu," Graf said in Zhuhai on Tuesday.

"To see them a few weeks later when they were a little bigger and just heard about how they're trying to prevent them from becoming extinct, and how they kind of raise them from the baby to the teenage years, was so fascinating."

Arguably the greatest female player of all time, Graf never had a chance to visit China, a then untapped tennis market, during her 17-year professional career (1982-1999), which saw her win 107 WTA singles titles and remain world No 1 for 377 weeks - a record for both the men's and women's tours.

The sport's recent boom here, however, has turned her head east.

"Just kind of being part of that growth and seeing tennis become more popular here, and more common, it's something that I found very enjoyable," said the 50-year-old, who is attending a series of tennis promotional activities during the tournament.

The Elite Trophy, the second-tier year-ending championships on the WTA calendar, features 11 players ranked ninth to 20th in the world rankings, plus one wildcard.

They are competing in a round-robin format, followed by semifinals and final.

The world's top eight players will head to another Guangdong province city, Shenzhen, to compete in the WTA Finals next week.

To finish the 55-event WTA season in China, where a record number of 10 tour-level tournaments take place on the mainland, only validates the sport's rise into the nation's sports mainstream, WTA chairman and CEO Steve Simon has said.

Graf agrees - and hopes the nation's young aces will soon start making inroads at major tournaments to facilitate the boom.

"Tennis is a very strategic game mentally, in terms of how long you can maintain your concentration, how long can you keep it up, how well can you physically adjust," said Graf, who claimed her first Grand Slam title at just 18 years of age (1987 French Open).

"I think the love of the game is the most important thing, that you enjoy it, and then trying to find the inner strength to go after it and experience how to get the best out of you."

Graf never looked back after her '87 breakout season, going on to dominate the women's game and become the only player, male or female, to achieve the golden slam by capturing all four majors and an Olympic gold medal (Seoul 1988) in the same year.

These days, the women's tour is a much more evenly contested affair. The first 19 events this year were won by 19 different players and four different Grand Slam champions - and that's to the undoubted benefit of the tour, Graf reckons.

"I think the fun thing is that it's keeping things interesting. A lot of players that play on the high level maybe sometimes struggle to keep it up all year long, but they're always capable," she said.

"I think that's what makes it interesting, that you do not always know."

Almost two decades since her retirement, Graf's star still shines bright, as evidenced by the warm reception she received at an event to unveil Zhuhai's Hengqin Tennis Center as the Zhuhai-Hong Kong-Macao Junior Tennis Base, with fans flocking to the venue, brandishing posters and chanting her name.

And while she is clearly a big favorite with the locals, Graf harbors as much affection for the city of Zhuhai.

"Coming here for four years now seeing the city grow has been incredible," said Graf.

"Every year I take a picture out of the hotel room window and kind of see the skyline within a year change so drastically.

"It's been fascinating to be kind of following that as well."