Paris Olympics: Donna Vekic Resorts to Mind Games in a Sly Attempt to Put Qinwen Zheng Under Pressure

What does a tennis player do after an hour-long semifinal battle at the Olympics? Probably take some rest, right? Donna Vekic did that too. She is no stranger to playing for long hours on the court and creating history. Approximately three hours of a match at the Wimbledon semifinal this season is proof of that. More now than ever, the Croatian player needs to display the same zeal in Paris, where she is about to get into a tough final clash against Qinwen Zheng. But despite being a formidable opponent, Vekic is downplaying her chances ahead of their match!

“Last night I went to bed at three. I was tired in the morning, but being tired was not an option today, especially when it’s a medal game,” Donna Vekic said to Sportske Novosti, referring to the day before her semifinal match at the Olympics. While defeating Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, she exhibited no signs of discomfort and achieved her first Olympic bronze medal in a career spanning more than a decade. “It’s been my goal since I started playing tennis. It’s been my biggest goal for this year,” the Croatian tennis star said after the hard-fought win. 

Now she has one more hurdle to cross to achieve an even greater honor at the Games: defeating Zheng in the finals. But the 28-year-old player, who has a 1-1 head-to-head count over the Chinese player, might have embraced the “underdog narrative” before the match. “I play on the surface that suits me the least; I tried; I left everything on the court. The final against the Chinese Zheng? The final is never an easy match, but I fulfilled my goal. Of course, my goal is to win the gold, but I can enjoy the match,” she boldly stated.

Is this her tactic to cleverly shift the pressure onto her opponent? Qinwen Zheng has also never won a gold medal. However, Zheng, who has come to the red clay after winning the Palermo Ladies Open, has already outclassed the World No. 1 player, Iga Swiatek, in the semifinals.

“I always wanted to be one of the athletes who could get a medal for China or for our country, and right now I’m one of them. But I know the fight is not over. It’s not the end,” the 21-year-old player said after her match against Swiatek. So, expectations are reaching even higher now. Moreover, Vekic also revealed her reaction when she first learned about Swiatek’s loss against Zheng!

Donna Vekic shares her candid reaction to hearing Zheng’s victory over Iga Swiatek

When Donna Vekic was focused on winning against Schmiedlova, she thought that her potential next opponent would be the four-time French Open winner Swiatek. And defeating her on the red clay would indeed be a hard task. But in a surprising turn of events, Zheng established her dominance over the 23-year-old player. This surprised Vekic too.

“When I saw that Iga lost, I was like, ‘Oh, I better win my match because it would have been tough. But Qinwen is playing great tennis. It’s going to be a tough match,” Vekic said in an interview. The last time that the Croatian player met Zheng was in China in 2023, where the latter won over Vekic. Now, the Chinese tennis pro boasts a No. 7 WTA rank, while Vekic is at No. 21. And as they prepare for the match, let’s see whether Vekic’s underdog strategy will pay off or not!