Clay ambitions rise: Zheng Qinwen adds clay specialist to her team with legendary tennis bloodline

World No. 8 Zheng Qinwen is making adjustments to her team following her withdrawal from the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart Open). The Paris 2024 gold medallist has brought in a former ATP top-100 player and clay-court specialist who ended his professional career back in 2024.

The Chinese star enjoyed a 13-match winning streak on clay last season, which included titles at Paris 2024 and the Palermo Open. However, she suffered a setback in her first clay event of 2025, falling in the quarter-finals of the WTA 500 Charleston Open to Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Clearly aiming high for the upcoming clay swing, Zheng has added a clay specialist as a sparring partner for the next few months: former World No. 90 Emilio Gómez. He will be part of Zheng’s preparation for the WTA 1000 Madrid Open, Rome Open, and most importantly, Roland Garros.

According to Ecuadorian tennis journalist Kenny Castro, Gómez will temporarily pause his collaboration with Emilio Camacho, a junior from Paraguay he has been coaching since last year. In fact, this week Gómez travelled with Camacho to the Roland Garros Junior Series, a tournament for Latin American juniors that grants direct entry to the French Open Junior event.

Although Gómez, 33, is still technically active on the ATP Tour, he has not played since the M15 Fayetteville tournament in July 2024. His current ATP ranking has dropped to No. 1424, due to inactivity over the past 52 weeks.

One of the curious facts about Gómez is his heritage: he is the son of Andrés Gómez, Ecuador’s most celebrated tennis player. Andrés won Roland Garros in 1990, defeating none other than Andre Agassi in the final, and also captured the 1986 US Open doubles title. That same year, he and Chilean Hans Gildemeister were named the world’s best doubles team.

It’s worth noting that Emilio Gómez joins Zheng’s team as a sparring partner, while Pere Riba continues to serve as her main coach.