At the 2024 Australian Open, China's Zheng Qinwen defeated Ukraine's Yastremska in straight sets to reach the final, where she will compete with defending champion Aryna Sabalenka. Although Zheng Qinwen's strength is far behind Sabalenka's, it is not without a chance of winning, but surprisingly, the bookmaker offers very outrageous odds and extremely underestimates Zheng Qinwen.
The odds given by the bookmaker are Zheng Qinwen + 400, Sabalenka - 550, what does it mean? That is, if you bet on Zheng Qinwen to win the championship, if you bet on Zheng Qinwen to win the championship, you can get 400 yuan if you bet on Sabalenka; if you bet on Sabalenka to win the championship, the bettor needs to bet 550 yuan on Sabalenka, and if you bet on it, you can win an additional 100 yuan. For Grand Slam finals, such a one-sided handicap is still rare, which shows that European and American public opinion extremely despises Zheng Qinwen.
Of course, Zheng Qinwen's comprehensive ability is indeed inferior to Sabalenka, and the competition experience is at a significant disadvantage, and the "fierce girl" Sabalenka is recognized as a heavy gunner, and her strength is stronger than Zheng Qinwen. Therefore, Zheng Qinwen's safest way is to first base himself on the hair, focusing on stability, if the opponent's emotional impatience and mistakes increase, he can find an opportunity.
Take the serve as an example, Zheng Qinwen's aggression is far inferior to that of the opponent, the first serve goal rate is 55% to 76%, the fastest speed of 184 kilometers per hour is also different from 195 kilometers, the average speed of the first serve is 170 kilometers per hour is also inferior to 178 kilometers, and the average speed of the second serve is 136 kilometers per hour is still inferior to others. ——Fighting with the opponent at a glance, Zheng Qinwen will definitely suffer, but he still has to win by surprise and play smarter.
In the semi-finals, Zheng Qinwen looked passive on the court many times, and turned the danger into a disaster through tenacious defense, such as several strange "cutting balls" with strange arcs, which were very beautiful. In the title match with Sabalenka, Zheng Qinwen can mobilize his opponent through a variety of lines and techniques, so that the opponent cannot exert strength, or let the opponent's excess brute force become a source of mistakes.
All in all, the European and American media and bookmakers all look down on Zheng Qinwen, and this kind of judgment of victory and defeat is also reasonable under "normal circumstances", so what Zheng Qinwen has to do is to put the game in "special circumstances".