Qinwen Zheng Blames Nike Tennis Shoes for Grass Court Issues

Originally posted on Serve on SI | By Pat Benson | Last updated Jun 16, 2025 12:37 PM ET

Tennis fans were displeased when Qinwen Zheng stopped in the middle of two consecutive matches at the HSBC Championships in London to change her shoes.

The first instance came against Emma Raducanu when the top-ranked British player was mounting a comeback. Zheng slipped on the grass court and took a timeout to change shoes.

Zheng explained after the match, "I have to say that I could not concentrate on playing but worried about my shoes. I noticed there was something wrong with my shoes, but I didn't realize that the sole has been unglued until the third set."

Zheng revealed that Nike had not supplied her with new grass court shoes, so she went back to a pair deep in her closet. "They were unused until yesterday, but they have been kept for years as they were from the period I was still playing in juniors."

A similar situation occurred the following day during Zheng's semifinal loss to Amanda Anisimova. The American was ahead in the match when Zheng called a timeout to change her shoes again.

Fans in attendance were audibly exasperated, but perhaps no one was more frustrated than Zheng. In fact, she blamed the shoes as one of the reasons for her loss.

"I first noticed it in the first set, but I didn't realize the shoes had already started coming apart. I played through the set, but by the time I went to change them, they had separated so much that I could no longer move properly," said Zheng.

She continued, "I had no choice but to switch to the pair I wore in the last match, which had caused me to slip multiple times. Unfortunately, neither pair was really suitable for me today. It's a shame—perhaps I wasn't fully prepared for this grass-court tournament."

Fans and media alike speculated Zheng's timeouts as gamesmanship, but it sounds like Nike failed to prepare one of its biggest tennis stars for grass court season.

Zheng is the face of Nike Tennis in China. She has starred in global marketing campaigns for the brand and launched her own Nike apparel collection in Asian markets.

Despite losing to Anisimova, Zheng reached her first-ever semifinals in a grass-court tournament and hit a career-high ranking of World No. 4 in the WTA Rankings this week.

Zheng faces former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the first round of the Berlin Open tomorrow. She currently has a record of 19-10 with zero titles this season.

This article first appeared on Serve on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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