Jie Zheng hopeful on continuing her emphatic run of form this season – Tennis News
Chinese veteran, Jie Zheng, seems to have explored her best form this season, as she started the season with her fourth WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) title. She defeated the fourth seed, Flavia Pennetta, in the final of the
ASB Classic tournament, contest in Auckland, to claim the first title of the season. It is always good to win the season-opener as it gives a lot of confidence to the player especially just before entering the year’s first Grand Slam tournament of the year,
the Australian Open.
She pulled up two major upsets in the Australian Open as well, defeating the twenty-third seed Italian, Roberta Vinci and ninth seed French, Marion Bartoli, in the second and third round respectively. Unfortunately her eight-match
unbeaten streak in the new season was broken by an inferior ranked Italian, Sara Errani, in the fourth round of the tournament but she still hopes to perform better in the upcoming tournaments.
Talking about his Australian Open Grand Slam performance, she stated, “I am happy about my campaign at the year's first Grand Slam event. I didn't imagine I could reach as deep as the fourth round before coming here." She is hopeful
that a classic start to the New Year will give her strength and courage to play an improved level of tennis throughout the year. She further added, “I hope to improve my ranking by playing hard at the premier events in Indian Wells and Miami (United States),
and could be seeded at the French Open. Hopefully, I could get back to the top 20 this season.”
Zheng was not in the limelight before her first appearance in the semi-finals of the Wimbledon way back in 2008. She then vanished from the face of news due to her dismal form but she regained her composure last year and came back
as an improved player. The season break worked in her favour as she worked extremely hard during the holidays to master the forehand and backhand shots that helped her cause through the new season. Mentioning about her rigorous training in the season break,
she said, “The demanding winter training has made me stronger physically and much more aggressive at the baseline.”
It is good to see that she is still working extremely hard to stay fit and competent at the age of 28. If she continues to perform well, she might be in with a chance to win the first Grand Slam of her career this season.
Tags: