Zheng Qinwen concludes her 2025 season! Ranking expected to drop beyond the top 20

Recently, Zheng Qinwen marked her 23rd birthday and posted about it on social platforms, adding the phrase, "A new year of life means breaking through thorns and sailing with the wind." Following her unexpected first-round loss to Siniakova at Wimbledon where she was seeded fifth, Zheng has participated in just one and a half matches in the last three-plus months.

The arthroscopic surgery on her right elbow in July forced Zheng Qinwen to pause her tour activities, followed by a relatively long recovery period, fortunately progressing as expected. She made her return nearly three months later at the China Open in September, where she defeated Arango—whom she had beaten multiple times before—6-3, 6-2 in her comeback match.

Clearly, the more defensive style of Arango did not pose much of a challenge to Zheng. Although her serve speed was still somewhat below pre-surgery levels, her overall condition was basically restored. However, the Czech rising star Noskova in the second round caused Zheng significant trouble; at 6-4, 3-6, 3-0 down, Zheng retired due to discomfort in her right elbow.

Noskova demonstrated excellent touch at the net during the China Open. After receiving Zheng Qinwen’s retirement, she went on to defeat seeded players including Pegula to reach the singles final and fought a tough three-set match against the season’s strong performer Anisimova, ultimately finishing as the runner-up in this year’s China Open.

After withdrawing from the China Open, Zheng Qinwen attended the opening ceremony of the WTA1000 Wuhan Open but subsequently withdrew from the competition. As last year’s singles runner-up, she lost 650 ranking points.

Following her withdrawal from Wuhan, Zheng officially announced her pullout from the WTA500 Ningbo tournament; the latest official entry list for the WTA500 Tokyo event also shows her withdrawal. As the defending champion in Tokyo, this means she will miss the chance to defend her title and lose 500 ranking points.

With this, Zheng Qinwen’s regular tour season in 2025 has essentially ended. Due to an overall average performance this year, she missed qualifying for the year-end finals. After losing the points from last year’s runner-up finish, Zheng’s world ranking is expected to fall beyond the top 20.

Of course, for 23-year-old Zheng Qinwen, full physical recovery is paramount. She still has a long professional career ahead, and everyone looks forward to seeing her return to the tour and Grand Slam events in good health.

It is worth noting that although Zheng’s performance this season was average, she still ranks third on Forbes’ 2025 highest-earning female athletes list with $26.1 million (Gauff leads with $37.2 million, Sabalenka is second with $27.4 million, and Eileen Gu ranks fifth with $22.1 million).(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Barbie)