Met his compatriots again, won another victory, and Zhao Lingxi's world ranking climbed again

As time went on, more and more veterans chose to retire and leave the tennis game, including Swiss king Federer and Spanish god of war Nadal. However, if someone leaves, someone will return. In the 2025 season, Xu Shilin, who once won the junior world No. 1, chose to make a comeback. Through hard work, she reached the semi-finals of the Hope Tournament and is close to the world ranking of 1000. Among the Chinese men's tennis players, there is also a player who has been retired for many years, and in the 2025 season, the second year after his comeback, he began to slowly find his form. So, who exactly is this player? How will he fare in 2025? Today, let the humble article take you to see it.

This player is Zhao Lingxi, who sang all the way in the Asia-Pacific region of the Junior Davis Cup with Mu Tao and Mo Yecong in 2016 and finally won the championship. It is worth mentioning that this is also the first time that the Chinese team has won the Junior Davis Cup Asia-Pacific championship. In 2017, Zhao Lingxi won the Australian Open junior men's doubles title, which was also the first time that a Chinese player won a Grand Slam junior championship.

Unfortunately, due to various reasons, after this, Zhao Lingxi chose to retire and disappeared from the tennis court. However, just when people thought that there would be no more Zhao Lingxi on the rivers and lakes, at the end of 2024, he chose to make a comeback and reached the quarterfinals of the Sharm el-Sheikh Hope Tournament in Egypt, which once again attracted people's attention.

However, due to the long-term absence of the lineup, Zhao Lingxi's record in the 2025 season was not satisfactory, and it was not until mid-March that he stood out from the qualifying round and reached the main match of the Shenzhen Hope Championship. However, in the first round against Japan's Rio Noguchi, despite his best efforts, Zhao Lingxi still only won six games. After defeating the opponent, only the lonely back left on the field.

Under such circumstances, Zhao Lingxi still chose to insist. In early April, he once again entered the main match of the Lu'an Hope Race. In the first round, Zhao Lingxi was defeated by Belarusian player A Liaonenka, but being able to fight his opponent to the deciding set also shows that he is already improving.

At the end of April, Zhao Lingxi broke through from the qualifying round to enter the main match of the Anning Hope Tournament. In the first round of the main event, his opponent was compatriot Zhang Tianhui. Some time ago, Zhang Tianhui reached the first finals of the Hope Tournament in his career, and he was quite powerful. In the first set of this match, Zhao Lingxi only allowed his opponent to get two games. In the second set, the two competed quite fiercely, and finally Zhao Lingxi scored another game in the tie-break to get his first victory in the main draw of the 2025 season. It's a pity that in the second round, Zhao Lingxi was reversed by compatriot Chen Xingdao in two sets in a row and was shocked out.

This week, Zhao Lingxi played as a wild card player in the Lu'an Hope Tournament. In the first round, his opponent was compatriot Sun Qian. In this match, Zhao Lingxi was in exceptional form, and he only allowed his opponent to win three games. After the victory, Zhao Lingxi's world ranking rose by nearly 150 places to No. 1502. Next, Zhao Lingxi is likely to fight compatriot Cui Jie. So, will he be able to pull off an upset and move on? Let's wait and see. That's it for today, and it will continue tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)