Zheng Qinwen hands home team China major boost ahead of Billie Jean King Cup quarterfinal clash against defending champion Italy

China’s Zheng Qinwen has received a major boost to return to the court in the near future. The 22-year-old has had fitness concerns in the recent past, which forced her to miss a lot of action on the court. Qinwen underwent elbow surgery in July, which forced her to withdraw from the ongoing US Open as well.

"Now begins the recovery journey," she said while announcing her decision to skip the US Open in a post on social media. "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."

However, as per the latest report from Spazio, Qinwen has received clearance to return to the court ahead of the upcoming Billie Jean King Cup. The report stated that Qinwen completed the rehabilitation under supervision at the Rennbahnklinik in Muttenz, Switzerland. Dr. Frank Denzler led the procedure for the rehabilitation of Zheng.

The Billie Jean King Cup final round will be played between September 16 and 21 at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena in Shenzhen, China. The remaining eight teams will participate in the quarterfinals of the competition, where the home team will go up against defending champion Italy.

The Italian side consists of some very good players, including Grand Slam runner-up Jasmine Paolini, recently crowned US Open mixed doubles champion Sara Errani, Lucia Bronzetti and Elisabetta Cocciaretto. With Qinwen receiving the clearance, the Chinese team looks much better as well, which will be composed of players such as Wang Xinyu, Yuan Yue, Zhang Shuai and Jiang Xinyu. The other three quarterfinals will see Spain taking on Ukraine, Kazakhstan facing the USA, and Great Britain facing Japan.

Major boost for the home side

Zheng has had a tough outing in the ongoing season, where she has won 19 out of 30 matches and suffered 11 defeats. Zheng 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. 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. While talking to the media after the match, Zheng admitted that getting through the first round has become a real challenge for her. Zheng also blamed herself for making the match ‘complicated’ and identified that going forward, her objective will be to increase her level from the start while playing in competitions on a grass court.

"The problem is the first match for me is complicated,” said Zheng. “But also for myself, I made the match complicated. I don't consider that it's such a challenge for me to play on grass. Maybe it's I just should put my level a bit more high today because I gave her a lot on my service games, especially when I was leading 5-3 in the first set. I had a lot of chances but just didn't take them. I'm not going to let this get into my head. It's just another match I lost here on grass, okay. I'm just going to see what's coming in the future, and I will always keep fighting."