It’s very simple. Zheng Qinwen, the Olympic champion, was playing at home on Saturday, in Beijing, in the second round of the WTA 1000, in front of a crowd entirely on her side. And that crowd unsettled her. I said it back in January: the fan is a player’s first opponent. Well, I said it during interclubs (Belgium’s weekend team league) at the Léopold, to a gentleman cheering on his wife on the next court, but the spirit was there.
During the first-set tie-break, as she was about to serve, she turned to the stands twice: “Stop shouting.” The chair umpire asked the crowd to stop moving around during points. Some fans even asked others for silence between rallies. She had that set in hand at 5-3, mind you, before losing the tie-break.
Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, against a future top 10, I had a whole stand to myself. Three people, including my cousin. He was coughing. I lost the tie-break. Careful, I’m not saying it was the cough. I’m clarifying: it was mostly the cough.
Then she led 6-7(4), 6-4, 3-0 and Kalinskaya retired after 2h22. Afterwards Zheng said: “It’s my problem, it’s my problem.” That is a rare elegance, but I wouldn’t have said it, because it wasn’t my problem, it was my cousin.
Silly question, but did your cousin know you were playing?
On her way out she told the spectators in Chinese, in the wind and the cold: “There’s a lot of wind today, don’t catch cold.” Ninety percent of players slip off to the locker room without a word, and I’m being generous. She told off the stands, then she checked the weather forecast for them. Next up: Marie Bouzkova in the third round, for the world number 54. Silence, I recommend it. All right?
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Actu.
