Zheng Qinwen has just retired from her Beijing third-round match due to the same issue that forced her to step away from tennis and undergo elbow surgery three months ago.
Over the weekend, Zheng played her first match since Wimbledon when she beat Emiliana Arango 6-3 6-2 at the China Open. Today, the seventh-seeded home star returned to the court to meet No. 26 seed Linda Noskova.
After dropping her serve twice early on and losing the first set, Zheng bounced back in the second set by breaking Noskova in the sixth game and then holding her serve for the rest of the set. But shortly forcing a decider, Zheng dropped the opening three games of the third set, and requested a medical timeout, before retiring with Noskova leading 6-4 3-6 3-0.
How concerning is Zheng retiring due to an elbow issue?
When Zheng announced in July that she was having surgery on her troublesome right elbow, she confirmed that the issue had plagued her for quite some time and that the doctors told her going under the knife was the best option. After making a post-surgery return in Beijing, the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist confirmed she still wasn't at 100 percent.
"Actually, China Open wasn't in our plan because like I said on court, I wasn't at my 100% still. Like 80%, 70%, but I'm able to compete. The recovery process is very long. At the beginning I healed really fast. Somehow when it comes to the last 20%, somehow it just didn't get better," the home star said after her opening match.
Zheng will now likely check with the doctors what happened with her elbow. And if she is forced to miss next week's WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan, that will definitely be an indication that something went wrong.
