Soundbite: Zheng Qinwen – As Long As You’re Strong Enough, You Can Beat Anyone

On June 30th, local time, the day of media interviews at Wimbledon, Chinese tennis star Zheng Qinwen entered the tournament as the 8th seed. She will face LuLu Sun, a Chinese-American player from the qualifying rounds, in her first round match.

Zheng Qinwen and her team

Commenting on the draw, Zheng said she didn’t pay attention to it at all. “Everyone knows what I’m like. I don’t care who I play against. Even if I played a Grand Slam champion in the first round, it wouldn’t matter. As long as you’re strong enough, you can win against anyone. If you lose, it means you need to improve your skills – that’s the bottom line.”

Regarding her preparation for Wimbledon, Zheng shared, “I feel pretty good. This time, I had a full week of grass court training with my team, doing specific exercises. In Berlin, I had some good matches, including against Naomi Osaka, and the one where I lost in the second round. Those helped me identify areas for improvement on grass, which we worked on during practice. Additionally, my collaboration with a new fitness coach has shown positive results. I’ve been serving fewer aces per match lately, but now I’m gradually regaining my previous form.”

Discussing her interaction with Anna Wintour and Nicole Kidman at a fashion show, Zheng said, “I did chat with them. Anna loves tennis, and she praised Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, calling them great young talents. That fashion show gave me the experience of interacting with celebrities from other fields, whose perspectives are quite different from those in the tennis world. I even invited Anna to watch my matches, but she must be busy. Perhaps she’ll have time later in the tournament.”

Zheng Qinwen is scheduled to play her first-round match at Wimbledon on Court 18, as the third match of the evening session, around 21:30 Beijing Time tomorrow night. Her opponent will be Lulu Sun, a Chinese-American player who qualified for the main draw from New Zealand.