Breaking news! Zheng Qinwen announces she will undergo minimally invasive surgery on her right elbow, sidelining her for the North American season, with the goal of a full recovery.

Just now, a sudden announcement has come: China's top female player, Zheng Qinwen, revealed on her personal social media platform that she underwent arthroscopic surgery on her right elbow yesterday.

In recent months, pain in her right elbow has been the "biggest challenge" for Zheng during training and competitions.

After her first-round exit at this year's Wimbledon, in order to secure ranking points for the second half of the season, China’s top player registered for the Washington tournament. However, just before the event started, Zheng suddenly announced her withdrawal. At that time, some netizens speculated, “This move by China’s top player is to strategically plan her schedule, especially for injury recovery, to avoid exacerbating her condition.” As it turned out, Zheng eventually announced that she would undergo surgery.

“Although I have been managing the pain through interventions, the impact has always been there,” she candidly stated in her announcement. After seeking a diagnosis from elbow specialists, her medical team provided clear advice: “You need to undergo minimally invasive surgery on your right elbow as soon as possible to completely resolve the issue.” After careful evaluation with her team, Zheng decided to proceed with the surgical option to fully address her injury, but this also means she will face a significant drop in her ranking and a long recovery period.

In response, sports experts indicated that according to the standard rehabilitation timeline for elbow arthroscopy: after 6 to 12 weeks post-surgery, she can gradually regain joint mobility and muscle strength and engage in low-intensity activities like swimming and cycling; it would take 3 to 6 months before she can safely return to high-impact sports like tennis and weightlifting. This implies that, in the worst-case scenario, Zheng's recovery period could last up to three months, meaning she may not officially return until the new season next year.

However, Zheng emphasized that hitting the pause button is for a better comeback! In her statement to fans, she expressed, “For the time being, I will fully commit to rehabilitation training and temporarily step away from the court.” Finally, she promised her supporters: “Please wait for my full recovery; we will meet again on the court!”

In this regard, some fans commented that since the start of the new season, Zheng has not removed her elbow brace, and during this time, to meet sponsor expectations, achieve results, and maintain her world ranking, she had to endure pain while training and competing. “Actually, during the Sunshine Double, Zheng mentioned that the competition made her forget about her injury and gave it her all. At that time, we really thought the injury wasn’t that serious, but now it seems the situation may have gradually worsened, including the injury in Charleston and then her early exit at Wimbledon. The frequent high-intensity matches exacerbated her elbow injury, leading to the need for surgical intervention,” analyzed a seasoned fan.

Currently, on social media, fans are generally speculating: considering this surgery and the subsequent rehabilitation process, Zheng Qinwen will likely miss the entire North American hard court season, including the Montreal and Cincinnati WTA 1000 events and the US Open. However, specific details will await a response from China’s top player, and we hope she can recover quickly.

However, based on the timeline, even with a smooth recovery, it will be difficult for Zheng to regain high-intensity competitive form within the remaining three months of the season. For many supporters of Zheng, they may have to look forward to witnessing a fully recovered and powerful Zheng Qinwen on the court in the 2026 season.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Lu Xiaotian)