Zheng Qinwen follows in the footsteps of her compatriot Li Na. She achieved cult status in China with her Olympic victory, and the self-declared "country girl" wants to take the next step in New York.
Zheng Qinwen blinks briefly into the spotlights before taking her seat in the large interview room at Flushing Meadows. The 21-year-old Chinese woman doesn't seem to have quite got used to the hype yet. "I only come from a small town," she says almost apologetically. But Zheng learns quickly - on and off the pitch.
She speaks much better English than the Chinese women who came before her on the tour. And she likes to talk about her life, which has changed so much this year. It was only a year ago that Zheng made her breakthrough and broke into the top 20 for the first time by surprisingly qualifying for the quarter-finals at the US Open. This was followed this year by the final at the Australian Open - where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka - and then just over three weeks ago by her triumph at the Olympic tournament in Paris.
Quickly back to reality
"This gold medal means a lot to my country and my family," she says. After the final in Melbourne, she needed some time to regain her focus. "Now I'm doing much better," she explains after her hard-fought first-round victory against the in-form Amanda Anisimova. "But it's really tough. You're floating on this cloud, but you have to come back down to earth quickly. I'm no longer an Olympic champion here, everything starts from scratch again."
She started her career in Shiyan in the central Chinese province of Hubei. The "small, really quiet town", as she describes it herself, has a population of one million, but by Chinese standards that's not much. "I had a simple, normal life. I went to school in the morning and afternoon and played tennis from 5 pm," Zheng remembers her early days. "Then I hung out a bit with friends and ate with my family."
Matured into a top player in Barcelona
However, her father pushed her to work on her fitness after training. The young woman's talent quickly became apparent. At the age of eight, Zheng moved to Wuhan and three years later to Beijing, where she worked with Li's successful coach Carlos Rodriguez. Na Li, who was the first Asian woman to win two Grand Slam tournaments (French Open 2011, Australian Open 2014), is still Zheng's great inspiration and mentor today. She ventured to Barcelona in 2019 and is now coached by Spaniard Pere Riba. This also explains her strength on clay. On her way to Olympic victory, Zheng defeated the top favorite and world number 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.
Now she also wants to take the final step towards triumph at Grand Slam level. The all-rounder with no major weaknesses still lacks a little power and a willingness to take risks. With her father's words in mind, there will be no lack of willpower. "If you don't work hard now when you're young, you'll miss out on half your life," he told her. But also: "If you work hard and enjoy it, you will benefit the most." In the glittering world of New York, the "country bumpkin" is currently putting both pieces of advice into practice.