Chinese star Qinwen Zheng is back at the tournament, where she achieved one of the best results of her career! On Wednesday, she was spotted taking part in a charity match against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in Melbourne. Then, a day later, she joined Novak Djokovic for another charity exhibition match at the Melbourne Part. Zheng and Djokovic beat Andy Murray and Victoria Azarenka by 4-3 in a single-set Fast4 format. So, a lot of warm-ups have already been done ahead of her first-round match against Romania’s Anca Todoni. However, amid all these, Zheng has yet again stirred a bit of controversy with her behavior. Let’s take a closer look at that incident.

Well, while walking out of the court after one of her practice sessions, Qinwen Zheng was reportedly spotted snubbing interaction with her fans. A fan shared that bizarre moment of X with the caption, “IJBOL 😭 Qinwen said I got no time to sign autographs 😭😭😭 poor kids.” However, this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen Qinwen Zheng stirring a bit of controversy with her bizarre reactions.

Several players do not seem to be big fans of Qinwen Zheng! For example, during the Paris Olympics, American tennis star Emma Navarro openly expressed her annoyance towards Zheng’s behavior by saying, “I just told her I didn’t respect her as a competitor. I think she goes about things in a pretty cut-throat way.” Not only Navarro but even after the final match at the Paris Olympics, Donna Vekic was seen expressing a similar reaction to Qinwen Zheng’s behavior during the match.

She said, “She kept delaying the service. As soon as someone’s voice was heard or someone moved in the audience, she took incorrect time-outs. We can’t expect spectators to sit like statues. There are also many controversial stories about her, but I won’t talk about that now.” Even during the Wuhan Open, she got engaged in a war of words amidst her high-octane clash against Canada’s Leylah Fernandez. Apart from all these, in October 2024, there was another controversy that made the headlines following her cold handshake with Mirra Andreeva after a match.

So, her behavior towards the crowd and opponents has at times been put under a severe question mark, and guess what? Aryna Sabalenka also witnessed the same during the QF of the 2024 US Open. Seeing Zheng’s cold handshake by refraining from making eye contact with the tennis pro after the match, some of the fans took a jib at her for her ‘rude’ gesture.

This recent incident of leaving her fans stranded while seeking her autograph reminds us of all these past controversies surrounding Qinwen Zheng’s bizarre behaviors. However, the player perhaps will now try to pay no heed to all these controversies as she has a massive challenge lining up ahead of her at the 2025 AO. Can she stop the defending champion from clinching the AO for the third consecutive time in her career?

“I no longer see her as before” – Qinwen Zheng reflects on closing the gap with the world number one

Qinwen Zheng had an outstanding season last year. She played 68 matches and won 50 out of them! Although she failed to clinch a title in 2024, Zheng started her season reaching the final of the AO and she ended her season as the finalist at the 2024 WTA Finals. In last year’s AO final, she was defeated by Aryna Sabalenka in two sets. She became the first Chinese player since Li Na in 2014 to reach the final in Melbourne. Can she now become the second Chinese player after Li Na to win a Grand Slam title?

This time, she’s keen to throw up a more sturdy challenge towards her opponent. She won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics after that and ended the season ranking 5th in the world. So, Qinwen Zheng has climbed a lot of stairs in the last few months. She’s now a serious contender for the title this year because of her experience of playing in some big matches.

How does she look back at her journey at the 2024 AO? Will there be any difference this time if she yet again faces Aryna Sabalenka in Melbourne? Well, on this note, let us remind you that Qinwen Zheng has a real possibility of facing Aryna Sabalenka in the QF. 

During a recent interview, Zheng said, “That final brings me many good memories, but at the same time some sadness because I didn’t take advantage of my chance. I could even say that typical phrase: ‘I ruined my opportunity because I felt I could have done better.’ It took me a long time to recover from that defeat, but at the same time, I learned a lot.”

She further added, “That’s why every time I play against her, I do better and better. I no longer see her as before. I played against her for the first time at the US Open, but now I don’t think about the past or what I did because if I focus on the moment, I will be a better person and a better player.” Currently, Qinwen Zheng is trailing Aryna Sabalenka by 0-5 in the H2H record. Do you think she can open her account against the Belarusian in 2025?