Zheng: 'A lot of players similar to my age are running faster than me' | ITF
Article 11 Feb 2022

Zheng: 'You never know when the work is going to show out'

Jamie Renton

11 Feb 2022

Zheng Qinwen is on a fast upward trajectory, even if she doesn’t particularly think so.

In the past month the 19-year-old rising star from China has made her first WTA semi-final, her Grand Slam debut and secured a double digit ranking for the first time – all just a year on from breaking into the world’s Top 250.

But while most would applaud her rapid progress, Zheng is impatient.

“Actually I think those results came slower than I think [they should have],” she said over a video call this week. “There are a lot of players that are similar to my age that are running faster than me.”

She is perhaps referring to the likes of fellow 19-year-olds Emma Raducanu and Leylah Annie Fernandez, who soared on to tennis’ highest stage when they unexpectedly met in the US Open final last September, but Zheng isn’t really benchmarking herself against her peers. She knows exactly where she is going. It is just the small matter of how long it takes to get there.

“Always in my mind I think that I could be better,” admitted the world No. 80. “I wish I could have more big jumps in the next few tournaments.

“You never know when the work is going to show out. The ranking I have now… I always believe I can do better. I’m still improving at every single practice.”

Zheng’s latest success, at the end of January, was winning the ITF W60 title on US soil in Orlando – her second tournament triumph at that level of competition and a victory that improved her record in finals on the ITF World Tennis Tour to 8-0 (four on hard courts, four on clay).

A fine start to the year has already seen Zheng amass a 14-2 record so far in 2022, with her only defeats coming against two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep in the semi-finals of the WTA Melbourne 1 event and world No. 7 Maria Sakkari at the Australian Open, where she reached the second round as a qualifier on her Grand Slam debut.

Her relative impatience for success shouldn’t be mistaken for ambivalence, mind. It’s not that Zheng doesn’t celebrate those milestone achievements - and every small triumph along her tennis journey in general - more that she acclimatises quickly. No sooner has she achieved a goal, she is on to the next. The biggest prizes in tennis are her ultimate focus.

“I’ve played a lot of tennis tournaments… maybe in those moments they were special to me, but now it’s passed I’m like, ‘that was okay’. Now, I’m searching for more big moments,” she admitted. “I would like to arrive as a Grand Slam champion. If I arrived there, that will be my unbelievable moment.”

Like many emerging players who performed well in the junior game and got an early taste of life among the world’s best players at the Grand Slams, Zheng firmly believes she belongs on the big stage.

It was a bit of a shock then when she first attempted to make the transition from junior tennis to full-time professional play, despite being ranked at No. 6 in the girls’ rankings.

“I was struggling at the beginning when I jumped to the pros,” she admitted. “In juniors, everything was slower and then suddenly everything became faster, so I had to make fast adaptations in the pros.

“The real difference is the ball is coming a lot faster,” she continued. “Players make less mistakes. You have to be there all the match. In juniors, sometimes, if you lose your focus you can come back. When I played [Sakkari] in Australia, I really felt like I had to be focussed for all the match. If not, I lose.”

Zheng, who grew up watching videos of Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters and tried to imitate facets of their play, is a particular fan of Roger Federer these days for his enduring ability to create time for himself on the ball.

“His game is very beautiful,” she said. “What I want to learn from him is to play more classic, because when you see him on court he enjoys tennis and he makes tennis a more beautiful game. He has this energy and I really like that on court.”

As a child Zheng was introduced to several sports, including badminton and basketball, by her parents, but tennis soon became her primary focus.

“Tennis for me is more interesting,” she said. “I really like the feeling when you stand on court and beat the opponent. Of course at the beginning I was good against everybody but my parents always believed in me that I could do really well in tennis.”

Zheng has based herself in Barcelona since 2019 (“It’s a great city – I really like the mentality towards tennis here,” she says) and though there is an abundance of hitting partners for her in the Spanish city, she spends a lot of time hitting with her coach, Pere Riba. Technical improvement is the focus, and her parents remain heavily invested in those marginal gains in her game from afar.

“They follow me all the time,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s midnight in China, they wake up and they see all of my match. During the tournament I don’t talk a lot to my parents, but when the tournament is finished they start to talk a lot about tennis. They’ll say ‘you have to improve on this part, on that part you are not that good, on this part you are doing very well’.”

While a healthy parental steer is hugely important in the early stages of an individual’s tennis development, Zheng has also received support from the Grand Slam Player Development Programme to ease the financial burden and help her reach the next level.

Earlier this year, she was announced as one of 44 players to receive a Grand Slam Player Grant (totalling $25,000) to help with her competition-related costs. Just over three years earlier, in 2018, Zheng was a part of the GSPDP/ITF International 18 & Under Touring Team to Mexico & Florida.

The trip, a key development initiative, gave Zheng access to expert coaches and high-level junior tournaments – including the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl – and opened doors that may not have otherwise been available to her.

“That helped me a lot,” Zheng remembered. “When I was a junior my family had a little bit of trouble. My parents tried to push me a lot, they said ‘you have to be better, if you are not the best then we can’t support you more with your tennis’.

“I think this support gave me less pressure. I had more chance to move forward in my career so thanks to the [GSPDP and] ITF. That really helped me a lot.”

The Grand Slam Player Grants are distributed with the intention of helping talented players realise their potential and compete on tennis’ grandest stage. But for Zheng, it has never been enough just to compete. Her goals are far loftier.

Asked how the picture looks for her in five years’ time, she is quick - and unhesitant - in her reply. 

“I wish in five years that I already had at least one Grand Slam in my hand,” she said, smiling. “If I could choose, I want [the] French Open.

“A lot of people say I was better on clay, but I love [the] French Open. I wish if I could have one in the hand, I want that one first.”

Discover more about the Grand Slam Player Development Programme here

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