Rising Chinese tennis star Qinwen Zheng shared a very touching tribute to Roger Federer as she thanked the Swiss for “inspiring a young Chinese girl to pursue tennis dreams.” Zheng, 19, is considered as one of the most promising players in the women’s game.
With 41-year-old Federer retiring from the game after the Laver Cup, Zheng sent out a post, expressing her gratitude to the Swiss for inspiring her to believe in her tennis dreams. “Federer is an icon of our time. He also seeded aspiration in the heart of a young girl from China.
Those great Federer moments over the years are not only recorded by cameras, but kept dearly in the hearts of tennis fans all over the world. I never had the chance to watch his match in real life, but only watched him practicing.
Thank you for everything you gave to tennis,” Zheng captioned her Instagram Story.
A lovely story from Qinwen Zheng about Roger Federer. pic.twitter.com/4F3M5IJ7Bp — Alex | Tennis 🎾 (@Alex_Boroch) September 17, 2022
Zheng could do big things in the game
Zheng, who is currentlly enjoying a career-high ranking of No.
37 in the world, definitely has the game to compete against the best players in the world. When Iga Swiatek was virtually unstoppable and crushing opponents with just a few games lost, Zheng managed to win a set against the Pole.
Swiatek, who was the absolute favorite to win the French Open, was tested by Zheng in the round-of-16. Going into the match, Zheng was the big underdog – but she refused to quit and won the first set. Unfortunately for Zheng, he couldn’t sustain the same level of play in the rest of the match as Swiatek won 6-7 (5) 6-0 6-2.
After winning the match, Swiatek admitted that Zheng put her in “trouble.” “I felt like I was a little bit in trouble, and I was able to come back and really refocus and find other solutions, so that’s great,” Swiatek said. It remains to be seen if Zheng can follow in Federer’s footsteps and one day win a Grand Slam.
