Andy Roddick is engaged to swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker.

Cristiano Ronaldo dates Spanish hottie Neireida Gallardo.

Zheng Jie, one of China's most successful female athletes, marries Zhang Yu?

Based on the behavior of testosterone-crazed Western athletes, you'd expect Zheng to hook up with movie star Chow Yun-Fat, or at least singer Andy Law.

Instead, the Chinese tennis star chose a relative nobody, a retired tennis player who ranked around 800 on the ATP Tour and is now her coach.

Zheng Jie (left) and her husband Zhang Yu

Is she missing something? Or, like other Chinese women athletes who have married "small husbands", does she know something her competitors don't?

Arguably the brightest female athlete in China, Zheng teamed up with doubles partner Yan Zi to win Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2006.

Their combined prize money and sponsorships topped 14 million yuan ($1.8 million), and they are considered China's best hope to win a second gold medal in tennis at the Beijing Olympics.

Zheng Jie credits her husband.

"All Chinese girls should marry a man like Zhang," Zheng said last month. "He supports me unselfishly. He is not only a husband, he's also a great friend and a great coach as well. I cannot win without his help."

Their relationship may be unusual, but it works for this young couple.

Zhang Yu, who represented China at the Davis Cup five times in the 1990s but never got past the preliminaries, retired from competitive tennis in 2000. He coached the Chinese men's team for six years before becoming Zheng's personal coach in 2006.

Despite the discrepancy in their careers, Zhang said he is OK with his role.

"She is at her best as a professional athlete," Zhang said.

"I have no problem helping her play better tennis. Because we are a couple, we communicate well. That's a huge advantage. Any time I want to make a suggestion about her game, she is there listening to me."

Their collaboration has beared fruit. Previously unranked, Zheng pocketed two Grand Slam titles in 2006 and climbed to No 2 in the WTA doubles rankings.

More important, says Zheng, are the personal rewards.

"All of a sudden, workouts are enjoyable," she said. "He designs a lot of little games on the court for me. For example, he gives me targets to hit when I practice my serve, and if I hit them three times in a row, he'll buy me a bag or some other gift. He makes it a lot of fun out there."

Zheng's serve was once her Achilles' heel. With Zhang's help, however, she has turned it into a potent weapon. She fired 11 aces in her 6-1, 6-4 victory over top-ranked Ana Ivanovic in the third round of the Wimbledon Open in June and slammed another nine to beat Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 in the next round.

But Zheng says she appreciated her husband most during the dark days of 2007, when she was sidelined for six months with an ankle injury.

"I want to say 'thank you so much' to him," Zheng told spectators after beating Ivanovic in Wimbledon. "I had some very hard times during my rehabilitation last year. I would not have been able to come back without him."

Zhang is not only a good coach and a generous husband; he is also an accomplished chef.

"He always cooks for Zheng. He's a great cook who knows how to prepare her favorite dishes," said Yan. "When she loses a match or has a bad day on the court, he'll cook her a nice meal to take her mind off tennis. I think this is ideal."