Wow! Olympic champion competed as a junior in S’wak  

KUCHING (Aug 13): Local tennis archives revealed that the newly crowned Olympic women’s singles champion played in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior tournament in Kuching seven years ago.

At the just concluded Paris Olympics the 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen representing China defeated Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-3 to pick up the gold medal. The in-form player, who turned pro in 2021, also traded her trademark powerful serves and groundstrokes to upset top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 6-2, 7-5 in the semi-finals earlier.

Zheng was in Kuching in 2017 to play in the 30th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup (II)ITF Junior Circuit (Grade 3) championships as a wild card. She lost in the quarter-finals. She returned again the following year for the same tournament and improved to become a semi-finalist.

The Chinese ace has taken big career strides since. She was the women’s singles champion at the 2022 Asian Games. She made it to the quarter-finals of the 2023 US Open. Zheng went on to play in her first Grand Slam final at the 2024 Australian Open. She also made history this year as the second player from China after Li Na to reach the top 10 WTA ranking.

Other past or current top players in the world who played as juniors in international tournaments in Sarawak included Nick Kryrios and Ashleigh Barty.

“We will continue with our passion and commitment not only to organise but also to ensure every international event becomes a signature event and a good memory for the foreign players who visited Kuching,” said Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association president Dato Patrick Liew.