Late at night on December 31, 2023, Beijing time, in a group match of Group E of the 2nd Tennis Union Cup, the Chinese team lost 1:2 to the Serbian team led by the world No. 1 Djokovic and failed to lock in the qualification place in advance. At present, the Chinese team has 1 win and 1 loss in the group stage, and the specific ranking of the group depends on the results of the match between Serbia and the Czech Republic on January 2. Judging from the results, the Chinese team with 4 wins and 2 losses still has a certain chance to qualify for the second place in the best group in Perth.
The number one in the world is really strong.
The Chinese team participated in the United Cup for the first time, and drew the "Group of Death", with the strong Czech Republic and Serbia, both teams have Grand Slam titles, but in the first game against the Czech Republic, the Chinese team played bravely, Zhang Zhizhen reversed Lehechka, who was ranked nearly 30 places higher than himself, Zheng Qinwen defeated last year's Wimbledon champion Vondrousova in three sets, and what is even more amazing is that the two who usually don't play doubles much, paired doubles also won. After defeating the Czech Republic 3:0, the Chinese team is in a good situation to qualify.
The two victories on the first day boosted Zhang's confidence, and he also expressed his expectation of challenging Deyo in the second round of the group stage after the game, saying that although he would not be arrogant and say that he could win his opponent, he would definitely fight with all his might. Sure enough, at the beginning of this game, Zhang Zhizhen did show courage and resourcefulness, giving people a feeling of high spirits. But as the game deepened, the experienced Deyo gradually figured out Zhang Zhizhen's way of the ball and completely took the initiative in terms of rhythm, and Zhang Zhizhen could only passively follow the opponent's rhythm to play.
So after being broken in the sixth game of the first set, Zhang Zhizhen basically lost control of the game, and Djokovic took the lead to break serve and took the next set with a score of 6:3. In the second set, Djokovic continued his good hand and continued to extend his advantage after breaking serve in the opening game, winning another set 6-2 to win the match. However, in the final stage of the match, Zhang Zhizhen still showed enough courage to save a match point in the second set from 1:5 down in the service game, and then saved another match point in the service game of Deyo, although he was unable to change the result of the match, but this spirit of not giving up is very important to improve the temperament of the game, and Zhang Zhizhen's performance is commendable to play like this with the world No. 1.
In the whole game, Zhang Zhizhen had 29 unforced errors, while Djokovic only had nine. Playing against the world No. 1 for the first time, Zhang Zhizhen admitted that he learned a lot from Djokovic, "I have never fought against the world No. 1, let alone the Big Three, and it was a very meaningful match for me. ”
Novak Djokovic (right) and Zhang Zhizhen greet each other after the men's singles match.
The mixed doubles competition became a New Year's Eve show.
With Zhang's loss, the pressure on China to pick up points came to Zheng Qinwen's side, and her opponent was Danilovich, who was ranked in the top 100. Maybe it was because teammate Zhang Zhizhen lost the game, which made Zheng Qinwen feel pressure. At the beginning of the game, Zheng Qinwen's hand was slightly tight, he didn't let go, and his attack was soft. On the other hand, Danilovich had both strength and speed at the beginning, which made Zheng Qinwen very uncomfortable for a while.
However, from the third game, Zheng Qinwen quickly found a breakthrough point, and Zheng Qinwen, who got back the rhythm of the game, felt hot, served online, and received the serve with a sense of pressure, and finally defeated Danilovic in straight sets 6:4 and 6:2.
Zheng Qinwen's victory also brought the Chinese team to a draw with Serbia. In the next mixed doubles, Zhang Zhizhen and Zheng Qinwen will once again play against Djokovic Danilovic. The two teams fought to the third set to tie for ten, and finally the Chinese team lost to Serbia with 10.
Zheng Qinwen (right) and Zhang Zhizhen (center) shake hands with Serbian players before the match.
It is worth mentioning that the atmosphere of the mixed doubles match was very joyful, and both sides seemed to play it as an exhibition matchDuring the break, Zhang Zhizhen, Zheng Qinwen and coach Wu Di also talked and laughed, as if they wanted to bring this joy to the fans who were with them on New Year's Eve.
Not long after the match between the Chinese team and the Serbian team, the time came to 2024. Although they failed to end 2023 with a victory, for Zheng Qinwen and Zhang Zhizhen, the past 2023 has been very fruitful, with major breakthroughs in rankings and results, and they both qualified for the Paris Olympics.
Looking forward to 2024, Zhang Zhizhen has set two goals, "Everyone is strong at the (Paris) Olympics, and we will not think too far ahead, and try to pull a seed (player) into the water." In terms of season, I still want to be in the top 30, especially at the beginning of the year, there is still a good opportunity to rush. ”
Proofread by Faye Wong.