“I need to start all over again”: Zheng Qinwen in tears after Roland-Garros loss and top-100 drop

Zheng Qinwen broke down in tears during the press conference after a tough defeat at Roland-Garros. The former world No. 4 was eliminated in straight sets against qualifier Maja Chwalinska — including a bagel in the second set — in a dominant 6-4, 6-0 win by the Polish player, who was making her debut in the main draw of the tournament.

For Zheng, the defeat deepens a difficult last year in which injuries have not left her alone and her ranking has collapsed, still without finding consistency on the Tour. At the end of the tournament, Zheng will drop to world No. 119 — and she only avoided missing the Wimbledon main draw thanks to the entry list cut-off being made a few days earlier.

Zheng’s disappointment was evident from her facial expression upon arriving in the press room, although as she responded it became even clearer. After a few minutes answering questions, Zheng broke down in tears after her early elimination from the French Open.

“I think it's more like the nervous and the pressure today didn't allow me to play the tennis that I want,” she explained in the press conference. “Of course I had some great points, great games, but in the important moments such as fall, I remember that I lost straight away four points in her service game and three points in my service game.”

“That usually didn't happen to me. Also, I need to accept today that, OK, I didn't play well. I lost the match. Roland Garros first round was really, really tough for me. It takes this time to handle it.”

Less than two years ago, Zheng Qinwen was crowned Olympic champion and won the gold medal, precisely on the courts of Roland-Garros during Paris 2024. In a remarkable year, Zheng reached her first Grand Slam final, played the WTA Finals, and her first WTA 1000 final, finishing the year as world No. 4 and becoming one of the biggest names on the Tour.

However, in 2025 she failed to find consistency and injuries complicated her season, ending it around mid-year in order to focus on returning to 100% physical condition. Since then, her attempts to return to the courts have brought physical problems and heavy defeats, leaving Zheng now in a complicated ranking situation.

“Well of course it's hard for me to take when I lost the match. It was really hard for me, the match of losing today, but like I say, that's tennis,” she said after the elimination. “For me sometimes the match doesn't go my way, especially today. A lot of time going back to the court, I felt there's no more space.”

Zheng will drop out of the top 100 for the first time in more than four years — when she was just a teenager taking her first steps on the WTA Tour. The Olympic gold medallist in Paris 2024 exits early from the second Grand Slam of the year and will now have to focus on the grass swing, the surface that has historically been the most difficult for her.

“For me I didn't pay too much attention to my ranking, but of course I need to start low again,” she said. “That's going to be different, but I think it's also going to be kind of positive for me, because I got to play a lot of matches. For me I think the problem was I needed more matches to get into the radar.”

The 23-year-old Chinese player will now wait for her next challenge at the WTA 500 Queens’ Club Championships — where she reached the quarter-finals last year and will again be under pressure to defend a significant amount of points. She will also need to play qualifying to enter the main draw, something that, if not achieved, could leave her outside the top 150 in the days leading up to Wimbledon.