From Sun up to Sun down: Lulu's day at Wimbledon

Newsroom

25-06-2025

She insists she's not into rituals, yet Lulu Sun eats strawberries and cream between match days, dines at the same Korean restaurant almost every night, gets in the zone to rap, and avoids stepping on the lines as she walks on court at Wimbledon.
Last year, she rocketed from No.123 in the world to become the first Kiwi woman to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Now 24, and ranked 46, Sun returns with the same mindset next week – only this time, she's straight into the Grand Slam main draw.
It's been a rollercoaster 12 months since her breakout at SW19. Named WTA Newcomer of the Year, Sun has battled injury, and endured first-round exits at all three Grand Slams she's played since. But with new coach Frenchman Dorian Descloix in her corner, she's signalled a resurgence this week – toppling world No.16 Daria Kasatkina on grass at the Eastbourne Open.
This is how her day at Wimbledon typically pans out:
The time Sun rises depends on when she plays. If she's first on court at 11am, her alarm rings at 7am.
She's staying in a London apartment about 30 minutes' drive from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club courts. Grand Slams give players a per diem so they can choose their own accommodation. 'Since we're always travelling and staying in hotels, it's nice to change it up and stay in a house sometimes,' she says.
Sun's cousin, her fitness coach and her mother, Lele, usually stay with her. This time it's her coaches and her stepdad, Sinclair Hoffmann (who helped her decide to switch nationalities from Swiss to Kiwi).
Breakfast is a glass of water, fruit, eggs and rice soup; sometimes beefed up with sausage or turkey slices.
Sun packs her kit bag with her all-white outfit and rackets – half of it she does the night before. She has no lucky skirt, socks or underwear. 'If you have a sponsor, you constantly have to change clothes, because every season there's a different outfit. So you can't really have a set of clothes you wear again and again,' she says.
She dresses in training gear for her ride to the courts, collected by one of Wimbledon's fleet of electric hybrid cars. On the trip to the stadium, Sun will either chat with her team or listen to music.
'I usually go for hip hop or rap. I've been listening to the new album of [Puerto Rican rapper] Bad Bunny,' she says. 'I go for upbeat music right before a match, so I'm not going to listen to classical or R&B music.'
Lulu Sun eyes the ball during her first match at Wimbledon 2024 – a win over China's Zheng Qinwen.
Arriving at the Old England Club, Sun first checks which court she's practising on. 'If you're first up, you can practise on the match courts.' She grabs tennis balls and heads to the court to start her warm-up. In the days leading up to her first game, Sun will practise on the courts at Aorangi Park (Māori for cloud piercer), just north of Centre Court.
Her fitness coach first puts her through stretching and mobility, before stepping up the intensity with jump rope, biking and running, then lunges. Her body warm-up is 40 minutes, then another 30 minutes for her tennis hit out. 'Unless you're like the top seeds, then you get however many hours you want,' she says.
Sun changes into her playing outfit, from her new sponsor FILA. Wimbledon has stuck to its strict all-white dress code (though since 2023, women are allowed to wear dark-coloured undershorts beneath their skirts or shorts, so they can focus on performance and not stress about their menstrual period).
Lulu Sun now has a sponsorship deal with sportswear brand Fila. Photo: supplied
She sits down with her coach for a final run-through of their game plan. 'Then just before the match, you do a little bit of movement to get the body going again, so you're not seated too long,' she says.
From the locker rooms, Sun and her opponent will be escorted by a security person out to their designated court. Security will be tight at SW19 this year. Local favourite Emma Raducanu – who Sun famously beat to reach last year's quarterfinals – was left in tears, hiding behind the umpire's chair from a stalker at the Dubai championship in February. The man has since been blocked from buying tickets to Wimbledon.
Although Sun isn't superstitious, she has one ritual whenever she walks out to the court, racket bag slung over her shoulder – she never stands on the painted lines. 'It's just something I do,' she says. 'I just feel wrong stepping on the lines.'
Even if she's playing on an outer court, there will still be a crowd cheering her in. 'It always feels nice to see how big our sport is and how many people are watching, even if you're just on a smaller court,' Sun says.
'Whenever you enter a court, your emotions and everything just amplify. It's like, 'Wow, these people are watching me; they're interested in my sport', and so I want to put on a good show for them.
'Obviously you have goals, but it's quite nice to think like, 'Hey, I'm going to perform for these people', as if you were in the theatre.'
It's reassuring for Sun to see familiar faces in the crowd – especially her entourage who sit in the player's box at the main courts, or allocated blocks of seats on the outside courts. 'I usually look up to find them, to know where they are.'
Lulu Sun walks out to the court at Roland Garros during the Paris Olympics. Photo: Dom Thomas
Sun stops for the coin toss to decide who serves first and which side of the court she'll start on. Then she walks over to her two green chairs courtside (introduced at Wimbledon in 1974), pulls out a racket and does a couple of minutes' warm up before the match starts.
'I don't have a favourite racket because I have to change it after the ball changes or set changes,' she says. (The championship stringing team will string over 2000 rackets during the tournament – 40 percent are for women – adding around 65km of string).
Sun and her team will have researched her opponent the day before. 'There are a lot of tennis videos online, so you just go through them and see, 'Oh there's her weakness' or 'I think I'll do well in this situation',' Sun says.
'Sometimes I know them and you might have a friendship, but when you enter the court, that's gone because that focus and that competitiveness is on.'
She brings her own hydration drinks and bottled water courtside and tries to finish them all during a match. It can get hot at Wimbledon – the mercury hit 35.7C in 2015, and a ballboy was overcome by the heat – and it's forecast to reach 31C when play in the main draw begins on Monday.
If Sun wins on one of the show courts, she'll do an on-court interview immediately afterwards. She has time to eat (players have their own buffet restaurant) change and recover – 'just stretching, really' or a visit to an on-site physio – before showing up at the press conference.
'I don't mind doing [interviews], they're part of the job,' she says. 'You know, some players complain about the interviewer or the questions…but I think it's a great way for fans – or people outside of tennis – to get to know the player.'
Lulu Sun speaks during a press conference after defeating Emma Raducanu at The Championships Wimbledon.
That's exactly what happened to Sun 12 months ago. Her press conferences swelled with each victory. 'In the qualies [qualifying rounds], there were like two [journalists]. And by the end, there were about six of them,' she says. 'And then there were all the TV interviews outside the room as well. So that was interesting.'
She takes a car back to the apartment in the late afternoon, and continues her recovery with a massage or compression boots for sore leg muscles. Her team analyse how the match played out, and start looking ahead to the next match once she knows her opponent.
At Grand Slams, players usually get a rest day in between singles matches – unless they're also in the doubles draw. Sun will pair up with Canadian Leylah Fernandez at Wimbledon (they made the final of the Catalonia Open in Spain in May). 'Last year I wasn't able to do both. But doubles is fun and a lot faster – you have to have reactions, and work on your volleys,' she says.
Sun watches TV shows or reads to relax before dinner. 'Sometimes I draw, but I really like to have a lot of time to complete something I start,' the part-time artist says. Wimbledon doesn't afford her that much spare time.
Lulu Sun takes her nutrition seriously. Photo: supplied
Last year, Sun went to dinner at the same local Korean restaurant 'almost every day…It became kind of a ritual. By the end of the tournament, the restaurant owner knew us,' she says. 'I'd vary it – sometimes I'd eat soups with meat, sometimes we ate barbeque or dishes with rice in them.'
She's usually in bed by 9.30pm, having watched some other matches on TV: 'You can always learn from other players.' She's a sound sleeper, which also helps her recover for the next match.
Even before her incredible run last year, Sun already loved Wimbledon, for what sets it apart from the other tennis majors.
'Wimbledon is very special because it feels very intimate and smaller than the others,' Sun says. 'It's the only grass court Grand Slam, and you don't get to play on that surface for a long time each season, so it feels special.
'And I love the Wimbledon traditions – the all-white dress code, the strawberries and cream – and the history behind it as well.'
Yes, she always makes sure she indulges in the signature delicacy.
'I do, thank god! Imagine that… I go all the way to Wimbledon without trying the strawberries and cream!' Sun laughs. 'I eat them on my off-day, because I don't like eating dairy before I go into a match.'
(For the first time in 15 years, Wimbledon has raised the price of their iconic dessert. The All England Club had frozen the cost per portion at £2.50 since 2010, but have added an extra 20p this year – blaming the cost of living crisis. The club sells 140,000 punnets a year.)
'I enjoy every time I come to Wimbledon, ever since juniors. Whether I perform well or not, I'm always excited to come back,' Sun says. 'And I'm feeling good.'