“Somehow, the last 20% didn’t get better”: Zheng Qinwen reveals struggles despite winning return in Beijing

Zheng Qinwen’s long-awaited return to competition finally came in front of her home crowd in Beijing. After 88 days away from the courts—the last time she played was her first-round loss at Wimbledon—the Chinese star stepped onto the China Open stage and delivered a strong performance, defeating Emiliana Arango 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round.

The 22-year-old enters a crucial stretch of the season where she defends some of her biggest achievements from 2024: the semifinal in Beijing, the final in Wuhan, the WTA Tokyo title, and another final at the WTA Finals. The pressure is immense, but Zheng knows how to handle it. For her, simply being back on court after surgery and a challenging recovery period already feels like a victory.

The comeback wasn’t originally planned for this week. The 2024 gold medalist admitted that returning at the China Open was something of a surprise, given how recent her rehabilitation process was. “The China Open wasn’t in our plans because it was really close to be here 100%,” she said. “Like I said on court, I wasn’t at 100% still. Maybe 80%, 70%, whatever, but I’m able to compete. The recovery process is very long. At the beginning, I healed really fast. But somehow, the last 20%, it just didn’t get better.”

Zheng is fully aware she is not yet at her physical best, but playing matches again has given her the rhythm she was missing. She admitted she is still dealing with expected discomfort. “I feel a bit fatigued in the surgery area, which is normal. I’ve been expecting this already,” she explained. “But it’s going to be better. I’ve been doing really good rehab with my team, so let’s see how far I can go.”

One of the areas where Zheng notices the effects of her layoff is her serve. Against Arango, her delivery was solid but not at the speed she normally generates. She was candid about this limitation, saying: “My serve wasn’t really reaching the speed I want. The average is about 175. If I recover more, I can increase my speed. I think that’s the rest of the 20% I’m working on.”

The acknowledgment highlights just how closely she and her team are monitoring every aspect of her return. Those small margins—the final 20%—are what separate good performances from title-winning ones at the elite level. While her groundstrokes remain a formidable weapon, getting her serve back to full power will be essential if she wants to end the year in a high level.

Interestingly, Zheng’s time away from the court also brought new experiences into her life. She explained that her rehab period, while difficult physically, gave her the chance to slow down and focus on personal growth. “Rehab is, of course, very challenging. In the past two months, I did not have any pressure from matches. I felt relaxed. Most of the time, I did not play tennis. At the very beginning, I did not play tennis so I could focus on other things,” she said.

Rather than letting frustration take over, Zheng embraced the change. “I learned Spanish. I read books. I took classes. It was a really good life,” she revealed, smiling as she described how she filled her time. These activities allowed her to step outside the narrow world of professional tennis and return with a refreshed mindset, ready to take on new challenges.

Now that she is back, Zheng is eager to reconnect with the fans who supported her during her absence. She acknowledged that her lack of social media activity may have made her seem distant, but her focus was entirely on her recovery. “I know my fans missed me in the past two months. I wasn’t really updating on social media in the past two months. Now I’m back. I would like to stay more on court so my fans can see me more.”