Qinwen Zheng Relieved to Finally Play Without Pain After Months Of Injury Setbacks

Qinwen Zheng made her first appearance on tour in months at the Doha Open in Qatar. The Chinese star last played a competitive match at the China Open in September and missed the Australian Open as she was yet to fully recover from an elbow injury she sustained during the 2025 grass-court season.

Zheng experienced a difficult 2025 Wimbledon Championship as she crashed out in the first round after losing to Katerina Siniakova. But the loss was due to a persistent right elbow injury, which required surgery. She underwent the surgery in July, which forced her to withdraw from the US Open in September.

Though she returned to the court in October at the China Open, she retired in her second-round match, and her season was cut short. She was scheduled to partake in the Australian Open, but pulled out due to precautions as she wasn’t yet fully fit. But on Monday (February 9), she finally returned to the court in Doha.

She faced American Grand Slam winner Sofia Kenin in the first round and fired 20 aces and 43 winners. She lost the first set of the match, but found her rhythm on the second and third sets, dominating the court. The 23-year-old defeated Kenin 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to seal her place in the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament.

Zheng, who was a top 10 player, now finds herself ranked No.26 in the WTA rankings. Nonetheless, her ranking position isn’t her main concern at the tournament as she’s only happy to be back on the court. During her post-match press conference, the former World No.5 admitted that she feels no pain in her elbow for the first time in months:

I would say my elbow right now is really at a good stage and I could have kept going for another two hours serving like this! I wanted to come back really strong. I’m glad I could do that in the first match because in tennis, you need to be consistent, not only in one round. I would say, just stay calm and let’s go for the next round. When I was at the China Open, my elbow still didn’t have full extension or the flexion.

Zheng’s best run last year came during the clay-court season. She reached the semi-finals of the Italian Open before losing to eventual runners-up Coco Gauff in three sets, and got to the quarter-finals of the French Open before Aryna Sabalenka defeated her. She hopes to have better runs during the hard-court season.

Qinwen Zheng opens up on the players she took an interest in during her sideline

Qinwen Zheng first made a name for herself at the 2024 Australian Open, where she reached the final before losing to Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets. She has not been able to back that kind of run in Grand Slam tournaments since then, but she has produced some great performances on the court.

However, last year, during her time away from the court due to injury, the Chinese star had to watch her fellow women’s rivals like Elena Rybakina and Sabalenka, while taking interest in the men’s circuit. During the aforementioned press conference, she noted that she followed interesting matches during the Australian Open:

When I was off tennis for six months, I put up a big screen for the Australian Open and a smaller screen next to play men’s and women’s matches at the same time. I was able to follow the most interesting players: Sabalenka, Sinner, Djokovic, Alcaraz, Rybakina. I’ve been watching all those matches and it felt fun to just watch tennis on the screen as a fan.

Zheng is scheduled to return to the court on Tuesday (February 10) for her second-round match at the Doha Open. The Chinese star will take on Alycia Parks, who shockingly defeated Diana Shnaider in the first round. She currently holds a 1-1 head-to-head record against the American star, but they last met in 2023.

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