Qinwen Zheng recently played teenage prodigy Mirra Andreeva at the 2024 China Open, and the home favorite did not seem to have much sympathy after the 17-year-old cried during the match.
Zheng is enjoying a breakthrough season, most notably winning an Olympic gold medal and reaching the Australian Open final. However, some players are not big fans of the 21-year-old.
Emma Navarro had a heated exchange with Zheng at the net after losing to her at the Olympics. The American said she did not respect her as a competitor, words she did not retract when asked about it afterward.
Donna Vekic also mentioned she knew stories about how Zheng acted in the locker room after losing the Olympic gold medal match to her, but the Croatian did not want to elaborate, possibly because she did not want to seem bitter in defeat.
Some fans have also criticized Zheng for how she shakes hands after the match. The Australian Open runner-up rarely exchanges words with her opponent or looks them in the eye, especially after losing.
Others have defended Zheng, though, arguing that it is unfair to critique her and that she is simply being authentic by not hiding how disappointed she is to lose after the match.
Zheng battled back in front of her home fans against Mirra Andreeva to win her China Open quarterfinal in three sets. The match was filled with twists and turns, but Zheng eventually prevailed 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.
Andreeva cried during the opening game of the third set after losing the second set heavily. She regained her composure relatively quickly to make the final set more competitive, but it was to no avail in the end.
Zheng was asked about Andreeva's tears afterward. The Olympic gold medalist said she was not paying attention to her opponent, and was more interested in dissecting her own performance during the contest.
"I don't know. I haven't pay attention to my opponent 'cause I just like mostly focus on myself because I feel today I play so bad tennis. I just feel I play like 20% to 30% of my level. I feel if I could play better, match will finish faster than that."
"Actually, I cry thousand times every time when I had a chance, like in 5-4 I didn't take my game. Starting third set slow, yeah."
Hearing Zheng say she played badly and still won may be pretty brutal for Andreeva to hear. The Chinese player said Andreeva could have been tired or in pain, but she also stated she usually waited until after the match to cry.
"But I think I could see a bit maybe she got some pain in her body. I'm not sure. Or maybe she's just tired. I remember the moment when I was tired in the French Open; I cried also, yeah. But usually I don't cry during the match, I cry after the match."
Ironically, Zheng became emotional and looked to have tears in her eyes after falling and hurting her hand in the semifinal against Karolina Muchova, a contest she went on to lose.
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