China's Zheng Qinwen is overcome with emotion after she beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the women’s singles Olympic final at Roland Garros on Aug 3. - PHOTO: Reuters
PARIS: China's young tennis star Zhang Qinwen is only 21 but she has exploded into the scene when she bagged the Paris Olympics women tennis singles gold in such grand style.
Simple known as "Queen Wen" by tennis fans, the world No.7 won many admiration when she upset Poland's Iga Swiatek, the world No.1 and Queen of Clay, in the semifinals.
The 21-year-old coronation was finally complete after she beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the women’s singles final at Roland Garros on Aug 3.
At the post-match press conference, she said: “Before today, when people called me ‘Queen’, maybe I would still humbly respond, ‘Don’t say that’. After today, knowing how significant and how hard-earned this gold medal is, maybe I don't mind so much (while grinning). But there is still such a long way to go. I'm hoping to win more titles."
It has been an incredible journey for her in Paris. Zheng first made the 11th-hour decision to pull out of the mixed doubles competition and let Wang Xinyu partner Zhang Zhizhen instead, “because I wouldn’t have been able to go far if I played in both”.
China’s Zheng Qinwen has taken the women’s singles tennis event by storm at the Paris Olympics. - Photo: Xinhua
After playing majestic tennis to ease through the first two rounds with a double bagel against Italian Sara Errani and a 6-2, 6-4 win over Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus, Zheng had to dig deep.
There was an ill-tempered 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 win over American Emma Navarro in the third round followed by a 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) quarter-final victory to send former German world No. 1 Angelique Kerber into retirement.
At that point, Zheng’s right thigh was already heavily taped up. She admitted that if this were any other tournament, she would have withdrawn.
But since she ditched table tennis, badminton and basketball for tennis at age seven, her father had instilled in her how the Olympics are more important than even Grand Slams. So, she persevered.
Then came that watershed 6-2, 7-5 semi-final triumph over Poland’s top-ranked Iga Swiatek, her first-ever win in seven attempts against the Queen of Clay, who lost her 25-match winning streak at Roland Garros and cried for six hours afterwards.
After that came the tremendous one-sided win over Vekic in the final. History was made and 'Queen Wen' has completed her journey.
For the record, Zheng also made 2023 US Open quarter-finals and 2024 Australian Open final. But inexperienced saw her losing her momentum in Melbourne this year and she meekly lost 6–3, 6–2 to Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
But nothing like that in Paris, she was at her utmost best and after that incredible victory over Swiatek, nothing it seemed that could stop the young Chinese star from bagging the gold medal at the famed and historic Roland Garros.
Gold medallist Qinwen Zheng of China, silver medallist Donna Vekic of Croatia and bronze medallist Iga Swiatek of Poland pose for a selfie with their medals. - Reuters
Zheng said: “Li Na will always be Asia’s first Grand Slam women’s singles champion, and now I’m the first Olympics singles champion from Asia. I have also created history and I still have a long road ahead to win Grand Slams. I also want to reach my full potential and become a better player.
“I want to inspire kids to dream big. There will be tough challenges, doubts, effort, tears, failure but enjoy the process, for all the losses are for that moment of success. And then, you will realise that everything is worth it.”
Young start
Zheng came from a sporting family. Her father, Zheng Jianping, was a former athlete.
And her parents pushed her into sports as they believed that was the best solution for their “fat and often sick” daughter.
By the age of six, Zheng had tried table tennis, badminton and even basketball. Tennis didn’t even come into the frame until her dad took her to watch the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where Zheng “fell in love” watching the Roger Federer.
“I chose tennis because I really liked the competition, especially the feeling of beating the opponent,” she told the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ahead of her Australian Open debut in 2022. “Of course when you lose you feel so sad, you feel so down, you feel the world is broken for you.
“But the competition is what I love most about tennis.” (as said in an interwiew with South China Morning Post).
It was Zheng’s father who became aware of his daughter’s talents and decided to send her away to further her training.
“If you want to go to Wuhan, we’ll try to find a better coach for you,” he told his then eight-year-old daughter.
The shy Shiyan native left home, gradually accepting that separation from her parents was part of the necessary sacrifice for an advanced tennis education.
On June 4, 2011, compatriot Li became the first Chinese player to win a grand slam singles title in Paris at the French Open.
More than 116 million people in China tuned in that day. One of them, of course, was Zheng and she said years later that seeing Li success on the famous Roland Garros court spurred her on.
“Li won her first grand slam, and I started thinking, ‘Oh, the Asian players can also do something in tennis. This is such an international sport’,” Zheng said last summer.
“I think that she put a little seed in my heart that I also want to do it. I want to try to be like her, you know, and even better.”
Three years later, Zheng was on the move again, this time to Beijing, where she trained with Carlos Rodriguez, who guided Li to her second major title at the 2014 Australian Open.
While Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Federer were all sources of inspiration for Zheng, it was the Swiss icon she truly looked up to.
“He [Federer] is a classic on the court and even now I still watch his videos,” Zheng said. “Of course, Djokovic and Nadal are amazing. I try to learn from them.”
Gold medallist Qinwen Zheng of China poses with her medal. - Reuters
Climbing the ladder
Zheng lives in Barcelona to train with Pere Riba, and has seen her ranking rocket through the years, from No 794 to world No 7.
She finally broke through in 2022, making the top 100 and reaching the main draw of all four majors. She beat former champion Simona Halep en route to the round of 16 at Roland Garros and even took a set off Swiatek.
A maiden WTA Final appearance followed in Tokyo that September and a month later, Zheng broke into the top 25 before being named WTA’s newcomer of the year.
Away from the tennis courts, Zheng prefers nature surrounding her training base rather than the bustling city life.
When she’s not competing, the Hangzhou Asian Games women’s singles gold medallist loves to sing, dance, read and brush up on a third language – picking up Spanish in recent years so she could understand what her team was talking about.
Life outside tennis
Zheng is also passionate about fashion and photography.
“I love pictures. I like to see how they turn out. They are memories to keep,” Zheng said. “We have a lot of different beauty. We have beauty on the tennis court, we show our power, to be strong, to fight a lot, and also on another side, to be beautiful as a person.
“It’s really important to improve as a person. My coach says if you are a good person, there are bigger chances that you can play good tennis.
“If you have good communication, that also can help you to work better on the court. When you’re a better person, you always make friends. I think that’s helped.”
If she keeps going in this fashion, she’ll have plenty more memorable moments to capture on film.
(Further materials and info for the article was taken from The Straits Times/ANN and South China Morning Post)
