Former world No. 27 Monica Puig is glad that people have finally started talking about the impact menstrual cramps have on a player’s performance. On Monday, rising Chinese star Qinwen Zheng was clearly in discomfort during her French Open last-16 match versus Iga Swiatek.
After the match, Zheng said her stomach was hurting her throughout the match. When asked about the reason, Zheng it was not an injury but “just a girls thing.” “Definitely something that affects female athletes!
Finally bringing it to everyone’s attention! Not to mention the mental stress of having to wear all white at Wimbledon and praying not to have your period during those two weeks,” Puig wrote on Twitter.
Definitely something that affects female athletes!
Finally bringing it to everyone’s attention! Not to mention the mental stress of having to wear all white at Wimbledon and praying not to have your period during those two weeks. https://t.co/PzyHnPlSJk — Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) May 31, 2022
Puig happy Zheng brought attention to the topic
Zheng made a positive start to her match versus Swiatek, taking the opening set 7-6 (5).
After winning a tight first set, Zheng couldn’t deliver the same level of tennis in the rest of the match as Swiatek won 6-7 (5) 6-2 6-0. “I got really pained stomach and I try my best, but it’s just, in the second and third set, I couldn’t, I didn’t have power to scream one, ‘Come on,’ even and it was really tough,” Zheng said.
“I want to fight, I really, really wants to fight, but I just don’t have power and it was really tough. I couldn’t show my tennis today in the second and third set, even in the first set, I’m really not happy with my performance.
The leg was, it was also tough. That compared to the stomach was easy. If I don’t talk about today, I’m happy with my performance all this run. To play against the No. 1 in the world, I feel really I enjoy on the court. If I don’t have my stomach, I think I could enjoy more, like to run better and to hit more harder, to give more effort on court.” Zheng was just a set away from becoming the first player since February to beat Swiatek.
