The second women’s semifinal match of the Australian Open tennis tournament saw the meeting of two top players born in the 2000s.
China placed 12th in the tournament Zheng Qinwen21, knocked out Ukraine, who reached the semi-finals through the qualifiers Dajana Jastremska23, after an hour and 42 minutes of fighting, 6–4, 6–4.
Zheng became only the second Chinese player to reach the final of a grand slam tournament. Already finished his career Li Na reached four finals in his career and won the second grand slam championship of his career ten years ago precisely in Australia.
Zheng showed his potential at a very young age and started playing tennis at the age of six. Just less than a couple of years later, her father took her from Shiyan to Wuhan so that his daughter could get a better coach.
The young player stayed 400 kilometers away from his family at the tennis academy and lived there for four years. He admired Li and watched her matches. He has said that he watched Lin’s Australian Open victory match “at least ten times”.
However, his most significant memory of Li is when he won Simona Halep In the third round of the French Open in 2011. Zheng was eight years old at the time.
– He gave me a dream. That an Asian, Chinese player can win a grand slam. Since that moment, I have had a dream in my heart, Zheng has said.
In many ways, Zheng is following in the footsteps of her idol Li, as she breaks into the top ten of the WTA rankings for the first time since the Australian Open. Among the Chinese, only Li has been able to achieve this feat.
Don’t think too much
Zheng and Li met earlier this week, and Li gave Zheng a simple piece of advice: don’t think too much.
That has been Zheng’s problem at one time or another. In their semi-final match Anna Kaliskajaa vs. he lost the first set, despite breaking the Russian’s serve twice at the beginning of the match.
Zheng stated after the match that he wants to learn to be as relaxed as, for example Novak Djokovicwhom he met in training just before the Serbian quarterfinal match.
– He came to say “hello” to me, so casually. Like he had no match. I’m so focused before the match that I don’t even want to talk to anyone, Zheng said.
– I want to learn to relax, like the top players, because I think that’s missing in my game.
Always something for Ukraine
Zheng’s semifinal opponent, Dajana Jastremska, was only the second player in the open era of the Australian tennis tournament to advance through qualifying all the way to the semifinals. Last time he was able to do this Christine Mathison (nowadays Dorey) in 1978.
In addition to this historic achievement, Jastremska has been in the headlines during the tournament, among other things, for defending the Ukrainian players’ practice of not shaking hands with their Russian and Belarusian opponents.
Jastremska did not shake hands with the Belarusian in Melbourne Victoria Azarenka, which he knocked out in the fourth round. However, Jastremska showed the two-time champion with her racket that she had noticed her opponent.
Jastremska has also taken a clear stance against Russia’s war of aggression.
– The worst thing is that people get used to war. We hear and read the news, but the words don’t feel as bad as they did at the beginning of the war. However, I think the most important thing is to remember, Jastremska said and told how her grandmother had barely escaped the bombing.
– It was crazy. I woke up before my match and heard that my grandmother’s house had been bombed. The bombs hit the 16th and 17th floors and he lives on the 20th floor.
When Jastremska won her quarterfinal match against the Czech Republic Linda Noskova against, he took the opportunity to write an emotional tribute to his country’s soldiers on the field camera.
– I always try to write something for Ukraine, about Ukraine. That’s my job here.
Jastremska has been at her best on the WTA list 21st in January 2020. In November of the same year, she gave a doping sample containing the performance-enhancing substance (mesterolone) and received a temporary ban.
Jastremska asserted her innocence and appealed her suspension to the International Court of Appeal for Sport (CAS). CAS did not release the Ukrainian, but the International Tennis Federation (ITF) lifted the player’s ban in June 2021.
Jastremska is currently ranked 93rd in the WTA ranking. Thanks to the success of the tournament in Australia, she rises more than 60 places into the top 30.
– This is a good return for me, because for years I was not able to return to the top 50 or even 60, Jastremska said and assured that she was not disappointed by her semi-final defeat.
– Usually you can play seven matches in grand slams, but I played nine, so I’m proud of myself. I don’t think too far ahead, but I believe that one day I can win a grand slam.
Sources: Reuters, CNN, Daily Mail, STT Urheilu, New Yorker, ESPN, Athletic