Zheng Jie’s stunning Wimbledon run is just reward for her work ethic, Chinese Olympic teammate Peng Shuai says.
Zheng thrashed world No. 1 and French Open champion Ana Ivanovic to reach the fourth round at the All England Club and now faces Hungarian 15th seed Agnes Szavay today for a place in the quarter-finals.
It is a welcome boost for the 24-year-old doubles specialist, who missed most of last season with an ankle injury and feared she would struggle to recapture the form that took her as high as 27th in the world rankings in 2006.
PHOTO: AP
Peng had no doubts Zheng would get her rewards because she saw how hard she worked when they linked up during China’s preparations for the Beijing Olympics.
“We have a different schedule so I don’t play with her that much, but we’ve practiced together in China sometimes because of the Olympics this year. I could see was working really well,” Peng said. “She’s playing well at the moment. Sometimes in tennis you get on a winning run and sometimes you can’t win at all. Good luck to her. It’s her first time in the fourth round here. I think it’s good.”
After losing in the first round of her first six singles tournaments this year, Peng is happy with her own form going into the Olympics after she reached the third round at Wimbledon.
PHOTO: EPA
She lost in the last 32 to Maria Sharapova’s conquerer, Alla Kudryavtseva, but revealed a recent change of coach had played a key role in her improved performances.
“For the first four or five months I didn’t play well and had a lot of tough losses, but after Berlin I changed to a new coach and he’s giving me more feel in the matches. He’s funny, he always makes jokes,” she said. “I can’t say I’m happy to lose here at Wimbledon because it was a really close match, but I still feel it was better. I can learn something from it.”
Peng will play doubles in Beijing with Sun Tian-tian, who won doubles gold with Li Ting at the 2004 Olympics, and she knows the whole of China is desperate for a repeat.
“It is my first time playing the Olympics and it’s in China, so I’m really excited,” she said. “Tian-tian won last time with her partner. But it’s not like you win last time, so you will win this time. For her there is a lot of pressure. There are many good doubles teams, like Venus and Serena Williams and the Spanish team who just won the French Open. Also, it’s in Beijing and this time everybody in China is really focused on it. I don’t have a lot of experience, so I just want to fight and play some good tennis.”
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