Congratulations! Zheng Qinwen + Wang Xinyu entered the main event, and the Grand Slam champion announced his retirement
After the Australian Open, the two most important WTA tournaments in February are undoubtedly WTA1000 Doha and Dubai in the Middle East. Among them, the competition in Doha will be in full swing on February 9. Judging from the list of finalists announced by the organizers, a total of 2 Chinese tennis players have entered the main event, namely Zheng Qinwen in seventh place and Wang Xinyu in 35th place. Among the top 10 players in the WTA rankings, except for Keys, who won the Australian Open last month, announced his retirement, other players, such as Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff and others, will participate in these two tournaments.
The main reason for Keys' exit from Doha was that she suffered a leg injury. At last month's Australian Open, Keys played four consecutive three-set matches, and in the semi-finals and finals, he eliminated world No. 2 Swiatek and No. 1 Sabalenka to claim the title. For a 30-year-old veteran, there really needs to be a break.
In addition to Case's withdrawal, Zheng Qinwen's seeding is likely to change from the No. 8 seed to the No. 7 seed. However, this change will not have a great impact on Zheng Qinwen.
Zheng Qinwen is still training in Spain, and she has two good news for her competition in Doha.
First of all, the good news is that Pereriba, who previously coached her, is likely to make a comeback in Doha. Pereriba went for surgery in December last year, and the expected comeback time is in February. If he can lead Zheng Qinwen in Doha, then, in terms of tactics and playing style, Zheng Qinwen is expected to return to the level of the second half of last season.
At the Australian Open, Zheng Qinwen was led by interim head coach Argentine Botini, when Zheng Qinwen chose to parachute into the Australian Open with 0 warm-up matches, and suffered 2 rounds of tours. If Pereriba had been there, he would never have allowed that to happen. At last year's Wuhan Open, Zheng Qinwen was severely criticized by head coach Pereriba for just speaking loudly to his sparring partner in training to express his dissatisfaction, hoping that she would respect every opponent. It can be seen that Pereriba not only coaches strictly, but also conveys correct values to Zheng Qinwen at all times in terms of life.
Another piece of good news is that Zheng Qinwen's wrist injury has fully recovered. When she was out of the Australian Open, Zheng Qinwen revealed that her wrist injury had not been completely healed. She and her team have even considered giving up the Australian Open and going straight to Doha. After nearly a month of recovery, Zheng is now hungry for the game. The only thing Zheng Qinwen is worried about fans now is that the game status is a big problem. Because she has only played 2 official matches in the new season.
In addition to Zheng Qinwen, Wang Xinyu's shortlisting for the main competition is also very inspirational. In order to keep her ranking from falling out of the 40th, Wang Xinyu has played 4 matches in the new season. Despite suffering a round of defeat in the three tournaments, Wang Xinyu advanced to the top four in Singapore. It's a little regrettable that Wang Xinyu's physical fitness was tested in consecutive one-day doubles, women's singles and women's doubles, and finally the women's singles stopped in the top 4, and the women's doubles only won the runner-up.
Wang Xinyu gave up the Spring Festival holiday to participate in the competition in Singapore, and also gained a lot. She rose from 37th to 35th in the world rankings. The competitions in Doha and Dubai were also directly shortlisted for the main competition. I believe that as more and more games are played, Wang Xinyu's state and results will usher in a straight upward period.