'But my team kept telling me not to rush, to take it step by step': Zheng Qinwen provides encouraging fitness update ahead of China Open

China’s Zheng Qinwen has provided an encouraging update about her health. The 22-year-old has faced numerous struggles in recent years regarding her fitness, which has led to her missing a significant amount of court action. Qinwen had an elbow surgery in July earlier this yea,r which forced her to miss the last Grand Slam of the year, the US Open.

"Now begins the recovery journey," said Qinwen in a post on social media where she announced the decision to withdraw from the US Open. "Over the next few weeks and months, I'll be focusing entirely on rehab - doing everything I can to come back stronger and healthier. This is just a short break and I see it as a necessary step toward a better version of myself on court."

Recently, there have been conflicting reports about Qinwen in the media. It was first reported that Qinwen will be available for Team China in the recently concluded final round of the Billie Jean King Cup. However, a few days later, it was announced that Qinwen would not take part in the team-based competition.

Now, Qinwen has provided an encouraging fitness update. The Wimbledon 2024 gold medalist was recently quoted in a report by China Daily, where she stated that her recovery from the elbow injury was ‘on the right track’. "I feel I'm around 70 to 80 percent now. Baseline strokes are okay, but I'm not yet at my ideal condition," said Zheng."I'm someone who tends to be impatient and always wants to come back quickly. But my team kept telling me not to rush, to take it step by step. That support helped me to complete my rehabilitation more steadily.”

The development means that Qinwen is all set to play in her home competition, the China Open. Qinwen, in the same interview, spoke at length about how difficult her journey has been in recovering from the injury. Qinwen also hinted that she will not be able to play in every competition from now on until the end of the season, as she is not yet 100 per cent. Qinwen also stated that she has learnt a lot in tennis, which includes not only winning but also losing..

Tennis has taught me a lot, says Qinwen

"These two months were really hard,” said Qinwen. “I wanted to play but couldn't. But tennis has taught me not only how to win, but also how to lose. You can't see every defeat as the end of the world. There's always another day, another match, another chance. Of course the ideal plan is to compete in every event, but I'm not yet at ten out of ten. So there is still some uncertainty. We still have several days of training, and I hope to get myself ready.”

Qinwen has had a tough outing in the ongoing season, having won 19 out of 30 matches and suffered 11 defeats in the process. Qinwen has not been able to win a single title this year, which is not normal for her, considering she won three and two events in 2023 and 2024, respectively, which included a famous triumph at the Paris Olympics, where, against all odds, she defeated world number one Iga Swiatek in the semis and went on to win the gold medal.

This year, her best run came at the Rome Masters, where she was knocked out after losing in the semifinal to America’s Coco Gauff with a score of 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. Zheng’s best performance out of the three Grand Slams came while playing at the Roland Garros, where her journey eventually ended after losing in the quarterfinals to the world number one Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-3. Her most recent outing was at Wimbledon, where she was knocked out after losing in the first round to Katerina Siniakova with a score of 7-5, 4-6, 6-1. It was the third consecutive year that Zheng was knocked out after losing in the first round at Wimbledon.