China's aces hoping for a long run on the lawns of London

"I think it's definitely a big encouragement for me to achieve such a breakthrough last week," said Wang, who was eventually edged out 2-1 by 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the Berlin final to miss out on a first WTA singles title.

"Perhaps I wouldn't say it before last week, but if you ask me now, I'd pick grass as my favorite surface.

"To be able to hang in there, compete toe-to-toe against such a great player on grass — a former Wimbledon champion — and push her hard in such a close match, I think it says a lot about my improvement on grass as well," said Wang, who squandered a huge 6-2 lead in the critical first-set tiebreak to eventually come up short against the Czech ace.

Wang's previous best at Wimbledon was last year's round-of-16 appearance, her deepest run at any Slam, and the same distance she reached on the hard courts of the 2023 US Open.

She's skipped this week's Bad Homburg Open, also in Germany, to focus on fine-tuning her moves, fast-paced returns and serves on grass to prepare for Wimbledon.

"I have to keep it secret, though," Wang said of her recent technical drills during an online interview with Chinese media on Wednesday.

Wang has also become the first ever Chinese woman to reach the final of a WTA 500 grass-court tournament, as retired stars Li Na, Zheng Jie and veteran Zhang Shuai all made grass-court finals, but only at WTA 250 level.