Notoriously Known for Her Unfriendliness, Qinwen Zheng Finally Explains Her Tense Equation With Aryna Sabalenka and Others

It has been an eventful year for Chinese star, Qinwen Zheng. Earlier this season, she achieved her biggest career win after clinching the gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games. Additionally, she followed it up with some amazing performances in the other tournaments of late. She even reached the final of the recently finished Wuhan Open, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka. While her performances have been good, Zheng has come into question due to her on-court behavior. Her attitude in the matches against Sabalenka and Leylah Fernandez was criticized at the Wuhan Open. However, the Chinese star defended herself with a rather honest admission.

After reaching the final of the Wuhan Open, Zheng is participating in the Ningbo Open where she is the second seed. During an interview with Vogue China a couple of days back, Zheng made a candid admission about making friends on the WTA Tour. She said, “I have not changed the thought (of not making friends on tour), because if I wanna make true friends, I’d want the best for them, but they’d also want to win, it’s difficult to compete with friends, they’d not be happy if they lose, and I’ll not be happy either if I lost.”

Despite making it to the summit clash in Wuhan, Zheng’s journey there was filled with controversy. In the round of 16 match against Leylah Fernandez, Zheng had a go at her opponent’s box and later she had a tense moment with Fernandez as well, which brought her sportsmanship into question.

Talking about the incident later, she said, “Actually, I was distracted in the first set by what [Fernandez’s father] was saying because Leylah was on the other side. He was always talking, ‘C’mon, c’mon,’ before I started to return. That’s why I think I lost the game when I was 30-Love because I was a little bit distracted.”

Subsequently, in the summit clash against Aryna Sabalenka, Zheng wasn’t happy with the line calls and slammed the line judges in the middle of the match. Further, during the shake of hands at the net after the match, she had a very cold handshake with Sabalenka, and her attitude was brought into question again.

Despite the loss against Sabalenka in the final of the Wuhan Open, Zheng, however, took away the positives from the match.

Qinwen Zheng on her recent performances: ‘I am doing better each time’

While her attitude has been questioned in recent times, Zheng has seen a steep rise on the WTA Tour. She has won a title this year and has achieved her career-best ranking of No. 7 in the world. Speaking after her defeat against Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open, Zheng said, “She forced me to see some of the weaknesses in my tactics. I really look forward to training. I look forward to the next match against her. After this loss, I’m feeling excited because I am doing better each time. There’s more room for improvement. I hope that I can close the gap and also can overcome this challenge.”

With Zheng rising to the seventh spot in the latest WTA rankings, she remains in the driver’s seat to qualify for the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The top seven ranked players automatically qualify for the year-ending championships and if Zheng qualifies, she will have a golden chance to avenge her Wuhan Open defeat against Sabalenka there, in case she comes across the Belarusian star.

On the other hand, Sabalenka would look to overtake Swiatek at the top of the WTA rankings and end her 2024 season on a high. Who do you think will emerge victorious at the WTA Finals? Let us know in the comments below.