Qinwen Zheng suffered a straight-sets defeat to qualifier Maja Chwalinska at the French Open and was overcome with emotion in her post-match press conference
Qinwen Zheng broke down in tears during her post-match press conference at the French Open and needed to regain her composure on several occasions. The former world No. 4 has slipped down the rankings in recent months following an elbow injury, with surgery keeping her sidelined from competition.
She has battled to regain her rhythm since making her comeback to the tour in February, and endured a crushing 6-4 6-0 loss to qualifier Maja Chwalinska on Monday. Less than two years ago, Zheng claimed Olympic gold on the clay courts of Stade Roland Garros.
She has now endured her maiden first-round exit at the French Open and appears destined to fall outside the top 100. And the 23 year old became understandably tearful following the encounter. The Chinese player acknowledged she failed to deliver enough from 4-4 in the opening set, with Chwalinska holding to love before breaking to love to claim the set.
Zheng failed to secure another game thereafter, and found herself struggling on the more compact Court 7, rather than one of the showcourts, which offers greater space behind the baseline.
“I think, of course, the match doesn’t go my way this time, and… honestly, it was tough conditions for me. The weather has been really hot today, she had a really good game on clay-court, and when she played high balls to me, I couldn’t go that far back a lot of times,” the current world No. 56 said. “I don’t have more space in the back court, there was one time I hit a referee behind the line. Yeah, I mean, there is some key moments, such as 4-4, I’m not doing well, but that’s tennis. I have to go back, work harder, and let’s see next time where is my moment.
“I think it’s more like… the nerves and the pressure today didn’t allow me to play the tennis that I want. Of course, I had some great points, great games, but in important moments, such as 4-4, I remember I lost straight away four points on her service game and three points in my service game, that usually doesn’t happen to me. And also, I need to accept today that, okay, I didn’t play well, I lost the match, Roland Garros first round, it’s really, really tough on me, takes this time to handle it.”, reports the Express.
Zheng had been clearly distressed throughout the post-match press conference, but she began weeping after providing that response, and wept into a tissue before another question was posed. “Sorry, go ahead,” the Olympic champion managed, but she broke down again before taking a deep breath and regaining her composure, revealing that she had summoned the physio mid-match to re-tape a foot blister.
Fighting back tears, she went on: “Well, of course it’s hard for me to take when I lost the match, but… it was really hard for me, the match, losing today. But like I said, that’s tennis, the match doesn’t go my way and especially, today, a lot of the time, going to the back of the court, I felt there was no more space. Obviously, she was doing well to play really, really high balls with the top spin. Yeah, there’s nothing more I can say, I only can take the loss, and let’s see when I can move on.”
Zheng is now set to plummet well beyond the top 100 and will shortly require wildcards to gain entry into elite tournaments. And she’s attempting to identify the silver linings as she begins afresh.
“For me, I didn’t pay too much attention to my ranking, but of course, I need to start all again, and that’s going to be different,” she said. “But I think it’s also going to be kind of positive for me, because I’ve got to play a lot of matches. For me, I think the problem was I need a lot of matches to get into the rhythm.
“I think, of course, I want to win the match, and I love here in Roland Garros, but I would say sometimes pressure makes me play better, but today this pressure doesn’t allow me to play freely like I want. And like I said, in 4-4, the key moment, I have to say, I did really badly. I lost seven points in a row. After, in the second set, I’m trying to do, I’m trying, keep trying, but it’s just I didn’t find a way today and that’s tennis, I need to accept it and there is nothing more I could say.”
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