On the streets of Wuhan in October, on the billboards, a healthy and sunny tennis girl wields a racket, sweeping away the city's comfortable life, and replacing it with a tennis atmosphere full of youthful vitality. Zheng Qinwen, a magical name, brought the attention of fans from all over the world to Wuhan. Her legendary rise and domineering post-match speech gave her the color of martial arts after disenchanting the exotic professional tennis of the past. Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and tennis is no exception. The talented Zheng Qinwen fought all the way to the center of the tennis world, and he was also under the pressure that followed.
On the evening of October 13, in the final of the WTA1000-level Wuhan Open, Zheng Qinwen lost to Sabalenka 3-6, 7-5 and 3-6 after three sets of hard fighting, and was relegated to the runner-up. It was Zheng's fourth straight defeat against Sabalenka, but she won a set for the first time and pushed Sabalenka to the limit. On this professional tennis path chosen by Zheng Qinwen, her pace of progress is destined to get faster and faster.
Zheng Qinwen's tennis road began in Shiyan City, Hubei. At the 2008 Olympic Games, Li Na from Wuhan, Hubei Province, made it all the way to the quarterfinals, but finally lost to Safina and missed out on an Olympic medal. Zheng Qinwen, who was not yet 6 years old at the time, told her father that she also wanted to participate in the Olympics and stand on the top podium. Sixteen years ago, Li Na sowed the dream of tennis into the hearts of a generation, and Zheng Qinwen and her family had a rare ability to execute and let the seeds sprout and grow.
After Zheng Qinwen proposed to learn tennis, her family sent her to a local tennis interest class. Hearing the coach's praise, this little girl has good talent, and it is best to go to Wuhan to cultivate, so her parents took Zheng Qinwen to Wuhan and found Li Na's enlightenment coach Xia Xiyao and Li Na's Hubei provincial team coach Yu Liqiao. It is rumored that the coach once saw that Zheng Qinwen was young and did not want to accept the apprentice, and his parents invited acquaintances to plead in every possible way, and finally persuaded the coach to accept Zheng Qinwen.
Zheng's goal is simple and clear: to become a successful athlete like Li Na. After many difficulties to stay in the team, she soon felt that the Hubei team could not invest more coaches and game resources in herself, so she persuaded her parents to take her on the road to the north and go to Beijing to continue her apprenticeship. Zheng Qinwen is like a little girl who is eager for the supreme martial arts technique, and constantly goes to various major sects to learn the arts. Zheng Qinwen continued along Li Na's tennis path to Beijing Ingenuity Wheel Tennis School to apprentice with Li Na's former foreign coach Carlos Rodriguez. Here, Zheng Qinwen received professional tennis training and pre-tennis thinking. After that, Zheng Qinwen took the most important step, and his family went to Spain to train at a tennis school, learn languages, and start a professional tennis career based in Spain.
Behind the path of upgrading and fighting monsters in professional tennis is Zheng Qinwen and his family's gamble on everything. Zheng Qinwen won the bet, and in just one or two years from the junior tournament to the professional circle, Zheng Qinwen quickly opened up the situation with his trademark serve weapon and forehand spin winning point, and won the WTA Year-end Rookie of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year awards in a row. On this professional tennis road of "one will succeed and ten thousand bones will wither", Zheng Qinwen has crossed the single-plank bridge.
Zheng Qinwen, who became famous at a young age, quickly became well-known in the professional tennis world. Her distinctive personality and straightforward speech have also stirred the tennis rivers and lakes many times. Zheng Qinwen is not the first player to receive widespread attention in the professional world because of his achievements and personality. The former Kournikova and Sharapova were both world-class stars with distinct appearance, skills and personalities. Sharapova even made a splash with the famous quote "I'm not here to make friends". Although Zheng Qinwen was immature, he showed his personality early.
Zheng Qinwen once said that from the age of 10 to 14, he was like "getting the script of the big heroine". After that, she found that her progress slowed down, and from the age of 14 to 17, she was gradually caught up by latecomers, which also inspired her to go to Spain to learn the art and fight her way. There, Zheng was nicknamed "Fire," describing her fiery temper and equally aggressive attacking style. Zheng Qinwen doesn't mind labels like "fire" and "aggressive", and she is even willing to be called "Zheng Queenwen" by others.
It seems that only by becoming the Queen can Zheng Qinwen be satisfied. After this year's Australian Open final, Zheng Qinwen still shed tears after losing to Sabalenka in two sets to win the first Grand Slam runner-up in his career, which made the outside world feel incredible. Zheng Qinwen said that this is her way of thinking: "I won't be happy if I don't win in this stop. ”
During this year's US Open, Zheng Qinwen once shed tears on the training ground, and the reason was that she was not satisfied with the performance of her sparring partner. During the China Open, Zheng Qinwen said that she hopes to be 100 per cent when working in tennis. "If I'm happy with my training, I'll be very happy for the day, otherwise I'll think it's been a wasted day. That's how high I am in tennis. She said.
Zheng Qinwen's pursuit of tennis seems a little out of place in the rivers and lakes. For example, during the Paris Olympics, United States player Navarro suddenly pulled Zheng Qinwen after fighting Zheng Qinwen and said that she had some opinions about Zheng Qinwen's way of dealing with people inside and outside the arena, "You will have no friends in the locker room like this." Zheng Qinwen later said that he may have been too involved in training with other players, "I really don't giggle when training with professional players, and make training very easy." I'm going to give it my all and fight for every point as if I were in a game. This can be uncomfortable for some players. ”
Zheng Qinwen's speech after the professional match was also very different from the traditional warm speech. After Zheng Qinwen lost to Grand Slam champion Rybakina in the first round of the 2023 China Open, he said that he only played about 30% of his ability. After receiving a "resignation report" from the coach changing foyers last year, Zheng Qinwen denounced the Grand Slam coach for his lack of professionalism. After that, Zheng Qinwen said that she was no longer superstitious about big-name coaches, "It's better for me to become a big-name team, then my team is a big-name team." ”
Zheng Qinwen's generation is indeed different from the players of the past, she said that her generation is looking at the world at eye level, "Only by looking at the world can we bring out our true and complete self stronger." Sportsmanship is about challenging the best version of yourself, faster and stronger, but not necessarily comparing yourself to others, but doing your best within your own reach and living up to yourself. ”
The tennis world in Zheng Qinwen's eyes is different from what other tennis players and tennis audiences see. She has set high goals since she was a child, and with the full support of her family, she has been learning from teachers everywhere to improve herself, and she has overcome obstacles on the road to the top of tennis without squinting. Once you've reached the heart of the tennis world, you'll reinvent it in your own way.
One person leads a movement, and one person makes the world focus on a city. From Li Na to Zheng Qinwen, tennis has been rising in China in the past 16 years. Zheng Qinwen is a tennis woman who has just turned 22 years old, and her wonderful world is slowly unfolding.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Chu Peng
Editor/Wang Fan