PARIS — As the first Chinese tennis player to win Olympic gold in singles, Qinwen Zheng said she can finally relax.
“I feel like finally I can be able to say to my family, say to my father, ‘Come on,'” the 21-year-old said with a smile. “Because I just made history.”
Zheng defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the Paris women’s final on Saturday. Zheng said both her father and Chinese fans treat the Olympics as more important than Grand Slams.
“You can see the strength, the hunger in my eyes was different than other tournaments that I play,” Zheng said.
After Zheng’s final point, she slid onto her back and laid on Roland Garros’ famous clay court looking up to the sky. The crowd in Paris on Saturday was filled with dozens of large and small waving Chinese flags and a ton of support for Zheng. After shaking Vekic’s hand, Zheng blew kisses to the crowd, then took one of the Chinese flags in the stands and draped it over her shoulders.
“All the Chinese crowd were yelling for me,” she said. “I was only 19 two years ago, and l would think this is a pressure.”
But with two years more of experience, she said she was ready to handle it. Zheng said she could understand every word of Chinese that the crowd was shouting, but used it as motivation, rather than a distraction in her head.
Li Na is the only Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles title — at the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open.
“Since I was a child, Li Na was an inspiration to me,” Zheng said. “I always wanted to become one that can inspire young kids to love more tennis. Because tennis to me is a great sport, especially for girls. You have to fight, you need to have strength, you have to be fast. There is not one only one specific, it is a very complicated sport.”
In a tournament of upsets, world No. 7 Zheng was the final Top 10 player remaining. Zheng was responsible for one of the most surprising results, taking down No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals. Swiatek, who was riding a 25-match win streak at Roland Garros, went on to win the bronze medal representing Poland.
“[Beating Swiatek] means a lot for me because I lost against her six times,” Zheng said. “But now I beat her in the Olympic Games, one of the most important tournaments for me.”
Zheng has emerged as one of the next big names in tennis after a breakout year which included an appearance in her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open in January.
Zheng dominated Saturday’s match from the start, winning 10 of the first 12 points before building a 3-0 lead after an early break.
Vekic, who knocked out world No. 2 Coco Gauff earlier in the tournament, became the first Croatian player in Olympic tennis history to win a silver medal. Vekic, 28, has admitted that she nearly retired from tennis following struggles after her knee surgery in 2021.
Vekic was the first Croatian woman to win an Olympic tennis medal. Vekic said she was in so much pain after Wimbledon in July — from both her arm and ankle — she didn’t know if she would compete in the Olympics. Then after flight issues and getting sick upon arriving in Paris, she asked her coach: “What are we even doing here?” A week later, she has a medal.
“It’s been my lifelong dream. Yesterday was one of the happiest days of my life,” Vekic said. “Of course, I’m a little disappointed because I wanted gold, but I’m still so happy and so proud.”
