Qinwen Zheng 'proud' after claiming historic Olympic singles gold

August 4, 2024

Tennis News, Tennis Tournaments, WTA Tennis Players

Qinwen Zheng ‘proud’ after claiming historic Olympic singles gold

Qinwen Zheng has become the first Asian-born player to win an Olympic gold medal in tennis, with the World No.7 ‘super emotional’ after the biggest victory of her career.

Zheng backed up her semi-final win over No.1 Iga Swiatek by beating Donna Vekic in the final, 6-2 6-3, to claim the Olympic singles title in Paris.

HISTORY MAKER! 🇨🇳🎾

The moment Qinwen Zheng became the 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 ever Chinese player to win a singles gold medal in Olympic Tennis! 🥇#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/VYVgpbMbZn

— Eurosport (@eurosport) August 3, 2024

After receiving her medal on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Zheng told Eurosport what this meant to her and China, “Nothing can describe my feeling right now. Every round was super emotional.”

The 21-year-old continued, “It’s just unreal. I was hoping to get a medal for China and finally I [did] it, and it was a gold medal. I did everything I could. I feel my country will be proud of me, I will be proud of myself, and my father and mother in China, for sure they are watching the TV right now and screaming for this moment. I want to say thanks to my team, my family, this success is for all of you guys. I made it, but not just me.”

China had never medalled in tennis at the Olympics before, but now actually have three medallists after Zhizhen Zhang and Wang Xinyu claimed silver in mixed doubles.

The power of regional games 💛

Qinwen Zheng & Zhang Zhizhen both won the singles gold medal at the 2023 Asian Games and both have now won medals in #Paris2024 #Olympics | #tennis pic.twitter.com/uYzdrXsR9x

— ITF (@ITFTennis) August 3, 2024

Zheng will now have a week off to enjoy her victory after withdrawing from the WTA 1000 event in Toronto.

Inside the baseline…

It was a fantastic final victory for Qinwen Zheng to cap off an incredible week, that included ending Iga Swiatek’s 25-match winning streak at Stade Roland Garros. What makes this run even more impressive is the fact that Zheng was down in multiple matches, including having to save a match point in the third round against Emma Navarro. Zheng is only 21-years-old and has already reached an Australian Open final, become a top 10 player and has now won an Olympic gold medal – incredible!

Qinwen Zheng and her road to the Olympic title

The women’s singles medals were awarded to Qinwen Zheng (gold), Donna Vekic (silver) and Iga Swiatek (bronze). And we wanted to lookback on Zheng’s incredible run to the Olympic title:

First Round – Beat Sara Errani, 6-0 6-0

Second Round – Beat Arantxa Rus, 6-2 6-4

Third Round – Beat Emma Navarro (11), 6(7)-7 7-6(4) 6-1

Quarter-final – Beat Angelique Kerber, 6(4)-7 6-4 7-6(6)

Semi-final – Beat Iga Swiatek (1), 6-2 7-5

Final – Beat Donna Vekic (13), 6-2 6-3