# Zheng Qinwen

Zheng Qinwen (Chinese: 郑钦文; pinyin: Zhèng Qīnwén; IPA:; born 8 October 2002) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She won the gold medal in women's singles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, defeating world No. 1, Iga Swiatek, en route to becoming the first Asian tennis player to win an Olympic gold medal in singles. She reached a career-high WTA ranking of No. 5 on 11 November 2024, and is only the second Chinese player to reach the top 10 after Li Na.
Zheng won her first WTA Tour tournament in 2023 at the Palermo Ladies Open, successfully defending the title the following year. In total, she has won five WTA Tour titles, one WTA Challenger title, and eight ITF singles titles, and was named the 2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year and the 2023 WTA Most Improved Player of the Year. She contested a major final at the 2024 Australian Open.

## Early life and junior years

Zheng was born in Shiyan, Hubei. Until the age of three, she spent time in her maternal grandmother's home in Chengdu, Sichuan, where her mother originated. Zheng began playing tennis at age seven. Two months later, eight-year-old Zheng left her family in Shiyan to train in Wuhan. About three years later, she moved to Beijing to train with Carlos Rodriguez, the former coach of Zheng's idol Li Na, and then moved to Barcelona (Spain) with her mother in 2019. She began working with coach Pere Riba in 2021.

## Career
### 2021: WTA Tour debut

In January 2021, Zheng won the Tennis Future Hamburg, Germany where she defeated Linda Fruhvirtová in the final of the $25k event, held at the venue of the Hamburger Tennis-Verband. On 20 June 2021, she won the final of the $60k Macha Lake Open in Staré Splavy defeating Aleksandra Krunić in two sets. Zheng made her WTA Tour debut at the Palermo Ladies Open, where she defeated second seed Liudmila Samsonova in the first round, before losing her next match to Jaqueline Cristian.

### 2022: French Open 4th round, WTA Tour final

At the Melbourne Summer Set 1, Zheng reached her first tour semifinal beating Mai Hontama, former No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, and Ana Konjuh, respectively. She lost her semifinal match to second seed Simona Halep, in straight sets. A week after the Melbourne Summer Set, Zheng qualified for her first major event, at the Australian Open and defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round. In the second, she lost to fifth seed Maria Sakkari, in straight sets.
At the French Open, Zheng defeated Maryna Zanevska on her debut at that major. Next, she beat former French Open champion and 19th seed, Simona Halep, her first top-20 win, to move to the third round of a major for the first time in her career. She moved into the fourth round after Alizé Cornet's retirement. On 30 May 2022, she lost to top seed and world No. 1, Iga Świątek, in the fourth round, referring to menstrual cramps as a contributing factor. Zheng was still happy about her performance and glad that she was able to play against the world's number one. As a result, she moved to a new career-high of No. 54, on 6 June 2022, and reached the top 50, at world No. 46, a week later when she won her first WTA 125 title at the Open Internacional de Valencia defeating compatriot Wang Xiyu.
Zheng debuted at Wimbledon and defeated Sloane Stephens in the first round. She won her second round match against Greet Minnen, before falling to the eventual champion, Elena Rybakina, in the third round. In August, Zheng defeated wildcard Rebecca Marino, fifth seed Ons Jabeur by retirement in the second round for her first top-10 win, and defeated Bianca Andreescu in the third round of the Canadian Open to reach the first WTA 1000 quarterfinal of her career, losing to 14th seed Karolína Plíšková, in three sets. At the US Open, Zheng defeated 16th seed Jeļena Ostapenko in the first round and Anastasia Potapova in the second round. She was beaten in the third round by Jule Niemeier, in straight sets.
At the Pan Pacific Open in Japan, Zheng became the first Chinese teenager to reach a WTA Tour final which she lost to Liudmila Samsonova. As a result, she reached the top 30 at world No. 28, on 26 September 2022, becoming the first Chinese teenager to do so. Zheng was named WTA Newcomer of the Year.

### 2023: US Open quarterfinals, two more titles

Zheng began the season with a win over former world No. 2, Anett Kontaveit, in the first round of the Adelaide International, saving match points in the third set to triumph in a final set tiebreak. She lost to Victoria Azarenka in the second round. On her debut at the Italian Open, she defeated Alizé Cornet, Anna Bondár, and Wang Xiyu to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to 11th seed Veronika Kudermetova. As a result, she reached No. 19 in the WTA rankings, becoming the fifth Chinese player to break into the top 20 At the French Open, as the 19th seed, she beat Tamara Zidanšek in the first round, before losing to Yulia Putintseva in the second. After the French Open, Zheng split from Pere Riba and began working with Naomi Osaka's longtime coach Wim Fissette.
The grass-court season yielded disappointing results, as she lost all three singles matches that she played. She received a wildcard into her next tournament in Palermo. As the second seed, she double bagelled Sara Errani, then beat Diane Parry, Emma Navarro and Mayar Sherif to reach her second tour-level final in which she beat Jasmine Paolini to win her first WTA Tour title.
As the 23rd seed, Zheng defeated Nadia Podoroska and Kaia Kanepi to reach the third round of the US Open, where she beat Lucia Bronzetti in a three sets. She defeated fifth seed Ons Jabeur, to advance to her maiden major quarterfinal, losing to world No. 2 and eventual finalist, Aryna Sabalenka. Fissette left Zheng after the US Open to rejoin Osaka who planned to return to the tour after giving birth. Zheng won gold in singles at the Asian Games in September 2023.
She captured her second career title on home soil at the WTA 500 Zhengzhou Open defeating Barbora Krejčíková in the final. At the Elite Trophy, she defeated compatriot Zhu Lin in the semifinals, before losing the final to Beatriz Haddad Maia. At the end of the season, Zheng was named Most Improved Player by the WTA. In the off-season at the end of 2023 she rehired Pere Riba.

### 2024: Olympic champion, Australian Open & WTA Finals finalist

Zheng made her debut at the United Cup as China's No. 1 player, part of the team's debut at the tournament, and recorded her first win to clinch the tie with Czechia. Team China qualified for the quarterfinals but was defeated by eventual finalist, team Poland. At the Australian Open, Zheng reached her first major final defeating Ashlyn Krueger, Katie Boulter, compatriot Wang Yafan, and Océane Dodin on her way to the quarterfinals. In the last eight, she defeated Anna Kalinskaya, before beating qualifier Dayana Yastremska in the semifinals. She lost the final to second seed Aryna Sabalenka. As a result, she reached the top 10 in the singles rankings, the second Chinese player to do so after Li Na.
Zheng defended her title at the Palermo Ladies Open in July, defeating second seed Karolína Muchová in three sets in the final, having registered wins over Sara Errani, Petra Martić, seventh seed Jaqueline Cristian and fourth seed Diane Parry in earlier rounds, all without dropping a set.
At the Paris Olympics, Zheng defeated Sara Errani, Arantxa Rus, Emma Navarro, Angelique Kerberand top seed Iga Świątek en route to the gold medal match. Zheng defeated Croatia's Donna Vekić in the final to win the gold medal in women's singles, becoming the first Asian player to win Olympic gold in a singles event. This was also China's second-ever Olympic gold in tennis, and the first since the women's doubles in 2004.
In October, wins over Kamilla Rakhimova, Nadia Podoroska, Amanda Anisimova and 17th seed Mirra Andreeva saw Zheng reach the semifinals at the China Open where she lost to Karolina Muchová. The following week, she was runner-up at the Wuhan Open, losing to top seed Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in the final, after wins against Jaqueline Cristian, Leylah Fernandez, third seed Jasmine Paolini and Wang Xinyu. Entering as the top seed, Zheng defeated Moyuka Uchijima, eighth seed Leylah Fernandez and sixth seed Diana Shnaider to reach the final at the Pan Pacific Open, where she overcame wildcard entrant Sofia Kenin in straight sets to claim her third title of the year and clinch a place at the WTA Finals for the first time in her career.
At the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Zheng lost her opening group match against Aryna Sabalenka but then defeated Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini to reach the semifinals where she overcame Barbora Krejčíková, in straight sets. She lost the final to Coco Gauff in a match which went to a third set tiebreak. Despite the defeat, Zheng reached a career-high ranking of world No.5 following the tournament.

### 2025: Early season struggles

Seeded fifth at the Australian Open, Zheng defeated qualifier Anca Todoni, before losing in the second round to Laura Siegemund. She then lost her opening matches at the Qatar Open to Ons Jabeur and at the Dubai Tennis Championships against Peyton Stearns. She suffered an elbow injury last season and the elbow pain had been affecting her form. Zheng and her team had previously considered withdrawing from the Australian Open due to the injury.

## Personal life

Zheng has cited Li Na—the only Chinese player to win a singles major title—as a source of inspiration. In 2024, Zheng said: "I watched her since I was a little kid so I'm trying to follow in her steps. She inspired me a lot when I was a child." Zheng has also credited her parents' support and guidance as a reason for her success.
Following her gold medal win at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Zheng said that she had always wanted "to become one of the Asians that can inspire young kids and make them love tennis more". She also said she looked up to Liu Xiang, a Chinese hurdler whose win in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics was China's first gold in any men's track and field event. In a 2024 interview with Sky Sports, Zheng said her hobbies include walking with her family, reading, and singing. She also enjoys roller coaster rides and is a fan of the K-pop group Blackpink.

## Career statistics
### Grand Slam tournament performance timelines

Key :
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Current through the 2025 Australian Open.

#### Singles

| Tournament | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | SR | W–L | Win % |
| Australian Open | 2R | 2R | F | 2R | 0 / 4 | 9–4 | 69% |
| French Open | 4R | 2R | 3R | | 0 / 3 | 6–3 | 67% |
| Wimbledon | 3R | 1R | 1R | | 0 / 3 | 2–3 | 40% |
| US Open | 3R | QF | QF | | 0 / 3 | 10–3 | 77% |
| Win–loss | 8–4 | 6–4 | 12–4 | 1–1 | 0 / 13 | 27–13 | 68% |

### Grand Slam tournament finals
#### Singles: 1 (runner-up)

| Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 2024 | Australian Open | Hard | Aryna Sabalenka | 3–6, 2–6 |

### Olympic medal matches
#### Singles: 1 (gold medal)

| Result | Year | Location | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Gold | 2024 | Paris Summer Olympics | Clay | Donna Vekić | 6–2, 6–3 |

### Year-end championships finals
#### Singles: 1 (runner-up)

| Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 2024 | WTA Finals, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Hard (i) | Coco Gauff | 6–3, 4–6, 6–7$^{(2–7)}$ |