Zheng Qinwen went through a difficult phase in her surgery recovery as the 2024 Australian Open finalist reached a point where she "started to pray" for her elbow to fully heal.
After enjoying an outstanding 2024 season, the Chinese tennis star's results dipped in the first part of 2026, mostly due to lingering elbow issues. And after Wimbledon, the former world No. 4 decided to surgically address the issue.
Three months after her surgery, Zheng launched a comeback in front of her home fans in Beijing. There, the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist couldn't fully flex her elbow and realized that she wasn't physically where she needed to be to compete. Another pause ensued.
Zheng, who had to make a difficult decision in January and skip the Australian Open, launched another comeback at this week's Qatar Open in Doha. And so far, so good for the current world No. 26, who defeated Sofia Kenin and Alycia Parks in her first two matches back.
Zheng: I just prayed for a normal elbow
“When I was at the China Open, my elbow still didn’t have full extension or the flexion. At one moment, I thought my elbow would stay like this forever, that I would never be able to bend my right arm like I can bend my left. I was praying, I don’t know if it was to God or something else, but I just wanted my elbow to get back to normal. I don’t pray for winning matches. I just prayed for a normal elbow," the 23-year-old admitted in Doha.
Before starting to deal with elbow issues, Zheng reached her first Grand Slam final in 2024, became an Olympic gold medalist in Paris, finished as runner-up at the WTA Finals, and achieved a career-high ranking of No. 4.
When healthy, the Chinese has been one of the best players in the game.
Meanwhile, Zheng meets reigning Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina in the Doha round-of-16.
