Cool and composed, Zheng Qinwen intends to thrive under the glare of the spotlight as she prepares to take to the court as the only Chinese player in the girls’ draw at the 2019 ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu.

Zheng is also the second highest-ranked girl in the competition, behind Ukraine’s Daria Snigur, both in terms of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings presented by IMG Academy and the Road to Chengdu standings.

Hopes are high and Zheng is confident she can ride the wave of expectation and deliver under the pressure of being among the favourites to lift silverware at a home tournament – and an event boasting the stature of the ITF Junior Finals.

“It is a big pleasure for me to have the chance to play an event like this in my home country,” Zheng told itftennis.com. “I am really looking forward to it. There is no pressure with it being a home tournament or that I will be one of the higher-ranked players.

“For me, it is about how I and every other player does on the day. I will not be thinking about rankings when I’m on the court as every player here has the chance to win.”

Zheng, who turned 17 earlier this month, has featured sparingly on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors this season, with her appearances tending to be reserved for Junior Grand Slams.

She reached the semi-finals of the Roland Garros Junior Championships and the US Open Junior Tennis Championships, on both occasions losing to American opposition in the form of Emma Navarro in Paris and Alexandra Yepifanova at Flushing Meadows.

“It was a good experience reaching the semi-finals of two Junior Grand Slams and I learned a lot,” added Zheng. “It is a pity that I couldn’t go one step further and make the final, there is a sense of what might have been, but I’m still happy with those results.

“Perhaps the biggest thing I learned during these Junior Grand Slams is that in tennis it is not necessarily who plays better, but who is stronger mentally and plays the smarter game.”

Zheng entered 2019 having enjoyed an enterprising end to the previous year. She triumphed at the Eddie Herr International Junior Championship before moving on to the Orange Bowl where she fell at the final hurdle in three sets to Cori Gauff.

Perhaps she was expecting slightly more this season – her best result on the ITF World Tennis Tour Women’s has been a semi-final appearance at the W15 Madrid in June – and her evaluation of the campaign certainly suggests so. “I think I can do better,” she said tellingly.

Nevertheless, Zheng has done sufficiently well to be ranked No. 6 in the junior world rankings, while she occupied the same position in the final Road to Chengdu standings.

In addition, the ITF Junior Finals, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, offers a big opportunity for Zheng to finish her year on a high. “I will be super happy if I can do that,” said Zheng. “I will certainly be trying my best in every match and playing my own game.

“I would be super happy if I could win and it would give me big confidence. It will also mean that I have played some great tennis and become a winner.”