It's really unintentional! In the early morning of August 1, Beijing time, in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics 2024 tennis mixed doubles, China's temporary combination Wang Xinyu + Zhang Zhizhen defeated the No. 2 seed Australia pair Perez + Ibden in the early morning of August 1, Beijing time, and entered the Olympic mixed doubles semifinals, with a score of 6-7 (8), 7-6 (8), 10-5.
In fact, Zhang Zhizhen was originally partnered with Zheng Qinwen in mixed doubles, but in the women's singles quarterfinals, Zheng Qinwen fought hard for more than 3 hours to narrowly defeat United States new talent Navarro, and according to the schedule, 1 hour later, Zheng Qinwen had to participate in the mixed doubles competition non-stop, considering the actual situation of Zheng Qinwen and the Chinese team, Zheng Qinwen chose to withdraw. But how can the opportunity to compete in the Olympics be wasted? According to the rules, Zhang Zhizhen can choose to temporarily replace the female partner, and she only needs to be ranked in the top 160. So, less than 1 hour after the start of the tournament, Wang Xinyu, the top 16 of the Roland Garros Women's Doubles Grand Slam + Women's Singles, received a call and asked her to participate as a substitute. Wang Xinyu received a call, and didn't even have time to change her clay tennis shoes, so she rushed to the court and won the first victory + reached the top 8 by grabbing ten.
Now, Wang Xinyu + Zhang Zhizhen are standing in the mixed doubles field of Roland Garros for the second time, and they have shown full tacit understanding and can adjust their tactics in time according to the opponent's situation.
Zhang Zhizhen: Today's opponent is very strong, and we are still in a state of finding a way + looking for an opportunity to deal with it in the first set. Although we lost the tie-break in the first set, we were very good at receiving and coping with the serve, and this valuable experience helped us to recover the second set.
And their temperament is superb. Although they experienced 2 "tie-breaks" + 1 "tie-breaks", they always supported their partners with a smile when facing conceding goals and mistakes.
Zhang Zhizhen: I think a smile brings good luck. After many top players make mistakes, they face them with a smile, because this 1 point is turned over in the past, don't always worry or complain or anything.
In the semifinals, Wang Xinyu + Zhang Zhizhen will face the Netherlands combination of Scholes + Kurhoff. How do you prepare before the race?
Wang Xinyu: I don't think you should think about it so much, just implement the tactics that you think are feasible. A lot of times, the more determined you are, the better you'll play.