Lulu Sun v Donna Vekic Wimbledon quarter-final: The perk Kiwi tennis star gets for reaching last eight

Lulu Sun celebrates her win against Emma Raducanu in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Photo / Photosport

The biggest payday of her tennis career and free tickets for life. Lulu Sun’s remarkable Wimbledon run from qualifying to the quarter-finals is already paying dividends.

The 23-year-old Kiwi booked her spot in the last eight of the grand slam with an impressive 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Brit Emma Raducanu on centre court yesterday. And by reaching the quarter-finals, she has earned one of the great perks in tennis.

A player who reaches the quarter-finals in the men’s or women’s singles gains entry to Wimbledon’s exclusive Last 8 Club. All members get free tickets to the event and access to hospitality suits at the All England Club once their playing days are over. The offer also goes out to the semifinalists of the gentlemen’s and ladies’ doubles and the finalists of the mixed doubles.

The official Wimbledon website states: “The Last 8 Club [invitations are] in recognition of their part ‘in creating the special heritage of the world’s oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament’.”

The invitation comes from the chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, and life entitlements include a photo pass to access the grounds every day of the tournament, a guest pass, use of a private hospitality suite, daily match tickets for Centre and No 1 courts, and a cocktail party on the second Tuesday of The Championships, the website says.

Aussie tennis legend Rod Laver, a four-time winner at Wimbledon, is known to pop in during matches where “coffee, tea, lunch and afternoon tea refreshments are on offer”.

The Te Anau-born Sun is already set to earn the biggest payday of her young career – £375,000 ($782,056) should her run end at the quarter-finals.

Sun next faces world No 37 Donna Vekic of Croatia at midnight NZT on Court 1.

😮👏🇬🇧 For those that don’t know:

Since 1986, any player who reaches the singles quarter-finals at Wimbledon automatically gets granted tickets to the event and access to the hospitality suite for *the rest of their lives*!

It’s called the ‘Last 8 Club’ 😎

📸 Sebastian Varela pic.twitter.com/hmjArYu5K1

— Olly 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) July 8, 2024

She is the first qualifier in 14 years to reach the quarter-final stage in the women’s draw at Wimbledon, the last being Estonian Kaia Kanepi in 2010. Sun came into the tournament as the world No 123 and will now crack the top 60.

Last year, unseeded American Christopher Eubanks said it was a “dream come true” to earn lifelong tickets.

“It’s tough to really put into words. I can’t really describe it,” he said. “Everything from realising that I have two credentials at Wimbledon for the rest of my life, to checking my phone and seeing my name as an ESPN alert, to realising how much I disliked grass at the beginning of the grass court season, to now look at where I am. There’s so many different ways I could go about it.”

The last New Zealander to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon was Chris Lewis in 1983, when he went on to make the final, losing to American great John McEnroe.

The only Kiwi to win the event is Anthony Wilding, a four-time champion in the pre-Open era with titles in 1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913, back when the defending champion had the advantage of automatically playing in the final the following year. The last time a New Zealander progressed past a grand slam quarter-final was at the 1989 Australian Open, when Belinda Cordwell got as far as the semifinals.

Cameron McMillan has been a sports journalist since 2003 and is NZME’s deputy head of sport. A career highlight was live-blogging the 2011 Rugby World Cup final from Eden Park (in a media box surrounded by French journalists).