Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez hopes to see full house at tennis showdown in Shenzhen

As the Billie Jean King Cup finals are set to be held in Shenzhen City of south China's Guangdong Province for the first time, the 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez shared her excitement and best wishes for the September showdown.

The Billie Jean King Cup is the largest annual international team competition in women's tennis, and China will join reigning world champions Italy and six other top teams from September 16 to 21, vying for the prestigious title.

Martinez, who was appointed the tournament director of the Billie Jean King Cup finals for a third consecutive year, expressed her confidence that Shenzhen will hold a marvelous top-level competition.

"I think it's going to be amazing. I mean, for China, to take on the Billie Jean King Cup finals, it's great. I was there in 2019 for the WTA Championships. Shenzhen did a great job putting on the beautiful event. To be able to have the Billie Jean King Cup to play for your country, for the Chinese players to have their, you know, everybody looking for them. They have a very strong team, so, it's going to be very interesting to see. And I hope everybody's coming to see their favorite players, their favorite countries, and I want to see a full court," she said.

According to the result of the draw event hosted in Shenzhen on May 12, China is to face the defending champions Italy in the opener.

"It's a draw. I mean, it's the same thing, you know. It's the luck of the draw. But hey, I think China has a very strong team. Of course, the Italians are the defending champs. They're doing really very, very good on this competition. But I think it's going to be very exciting and I'm really looking forward to that tie," said Martinez.

Beyond the competition, Martinez also shared her connections with Chinese culture, especially the delicacies, noting that all the tournament players will love the country.

"I love Chinese food. I mean, for sure, rice and chicken, fried rice and noodles, and everything. I used to spend some time, some weekends in Shenzhen. Chinese people are very welcoming and I'm very open. I think you guys do a very good job with all the tournaments that we had there, and all the players love it," she said.

Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez hopes to see full house at tennis showdown in Shenzhen

More than 1,000 demonstrators took to the street in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to protest against the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minnesota earlier this week, as well as U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.

"And the brutality of ICE to shoot a woman in the head three times is appalling. And why we're allowing that, why is this happening in the United States? It's unbelievable. They're not taking just undocumented immigrants. They're taking everybody and they're asking questions later," said a protester who was only identified as Jonelle.

"[U.S. military striking on] Venezuela was completely wrong, completely wrong. Constitutionally, he had no right to do that. And the fact that the oil companies knew what he was going to do before even Congress or the military knew, just tells you everything you need to know," noted another protester, who was only named as Erin.

Analysts pointed out the protests reflect strong dissatisfaction among the U.S. public with the government's handling of both domestic affairs and foreign policy at present.

Renee Nicole Good, 37, was shot dead on Wednesday by an agent of the ICE. The killing sparked outrage in the Democratic-led state and beyond, triggering protests and vigils aimed at ICE and federal immigration policy.

Protests erupt in Los Angeles against ICE, U.S. actions in Venezuela