Setting a gold standard
Despite her narrow defeat in Riyadh, Zheng Qinwen has set herself a high bar for next season
More significantly, the 800 ranking points she's earned have propelled Zheng to a new career high of world No 5, closing in on the Chinese record set by retired two-time major winner Li Na, who, in January 2014, was world No 2.
Although she's not yet matching her childhood idol Li in the majors, Zheng's market value, thanks to tennis' surging popularity among the Chinese public, driven by Li's two Grand Slam wins (2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open) and Zheng's Olympic gold, has been projected to surpass Li, or any other Chinese female athlete.
The rising star has braced herself for a busy off-season, with a packed schedule of endorsement events and advertising shoots for sponsors arranged by her agency IMG, the same promoter behind Li's commercial success over a decade ago.
It's a sweet obligation reserved for only the most sought-after women's sports icons.
"I still have lot of work to do for my sponsors," Zheng said during her post-match news conference. "And then, yeah, for the holiday, good question, I need to plan that when I get back to China, because I don't have too many days (off)."
With the new season and the next major in Melbourne fast approaching, Zheng, a finalist at the 2024 Aussie Open, has certainly built enough momentum and consistency over the freshly concluded season to set a higher goal for 2025.
Since her opening loss at Wimbledon, Zheng has racked up a 31-6 win-loss record, the most match-wins on Tour during that period, and collected a WTA250 title in Palermo, Italy, and a WTA500 title in Tokyo, before reaching her first WTA1000 final in Wuhan, capital of her home province Hubei.
