Zheng Jie

Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a Chinese former professional tennis player.

Zheng graduated from the Sichuan Sports Academy in June 2000.

In May 2002, she won two successive $25k ITF singles tournaments, at Shanghai and Tianjin, right after reaching her first $50k tournament quarterfinal, at Fukuoka, Japan.

That September, she gained direct entry into a WTA tournament at Shanghai, and reached round two before losing to Anna Kournikova.

She ended the year as world No. 183.

In 2003, she qualified for Hyderabad and took a love set against Mary Pierce in the main-draw first round, only to lose the match in three sets.

She also qualified for Doha, but then lost to Lina Krasnoroutskaya.

Later in the year, she defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives in the first round of a $25k tournament, Alona Bondarenko in the first round of qualifying for Palermo, and Maria Elena Camerin at another $50k event in July, where she reached the quarterfinal; but it was in August at the Bronx that she won her first $50k title, beating Shenay Perry, Jamea Jackson, Akiko Morigami, Adriana Serra Zanetti and (in the final) Maria Kirilenko to this end.

Although Kirilenko avenged this defeat in qualifying at the US Open, Zheng proceeded to qualify for Bali in September with victories over Yan Zi and Yuka Yoshida.

She won four singles titles on the WTA Tour – Hobart in 2005, Estoril, Stockholm in 2006, and Auckland in 2012.

She has one of the best footwork and court coverage on the tour, which allows her to keep shots in play that would normally be winners; so few shots get by her that after the final match of Hobart International in 2005, the finalist Gisela Dulko described her game as 'The Great Wall of China' because 'she didn't miss one ball'.

Also an accomplished doubles player, she is very comfortable when playing at the net.

Zheng's best shot is her backhand.

Her main weakness is her serve; however she is sometimes able to neutralize her weak serve with her quickness or by serving to the body or to the opponent's weaker groundstroke.

She also won 15 career doubles titles, eleven of them with Yan Zi, including Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2006.

Zheng keeps in a small vial pieces of her ankle bone that were removed during the ankle surgery of 2007.

She says, she keeps it because it is a part of her, and that it makes her cherish being able to play tennis again and life in general.

She says that although it made her world ranking plunge, it also made her grow up a lot.

She won the bronze medal in doubles with Yan Zi at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Her career-high doubles ranking is world No. 3. Zheng reached the singles semifinals at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, where she defeated world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, in the process, becoming the first Chinese player to advance to the semifinals at a major tournament.

At Wimbledon in 2008, she gained recognition when she became the first Chinese player ever to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament, defeating then-world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, en route.

She donated her winnings to the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in her native province.

Zheng was coached by Jiang Hong Wei, China's national women's team head coach, but she was later coached by her husband Zhang Yu who was also her hitting partner.

They became close during the period after her severe ankle injury.

Zheng is on the advisory staff of Yonex and uses their rackets.

She was wearing clothing by Anta and appeared in their advertising campaigns, and she is a Rolex testimonee together with Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic.

Zheng started playing tennis when she was ten, after she had seen her older sister play and thought tennis would be good exercise.

At first, it was just for exercise.

Zheng was rather small (at 5', 4.5"), and she and her parents were afraid that she would not have a career in the tennis world. (In fact, she was called "xiao bu dier" by her parents, which translates into something along the lines of "small kid." Her stature was no surprise though, for both her parents were short.) They considered her focusing more on her studies, so that if she did not make it in tennis she would be able to get a different job. However, her foreign coach saw potential in her, and told her parents and her something along the lines of, "There are many people in China who read books, but there are few who are national heroes." After that, her parents agreed to allow her to pursue tennis as a profession.

Nearly a year after the Sichuan earthquake that shook her home province, she visited there and brought with her tennis balls and rackets to distribute to the children there.

In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15.

Zheng is one of China's most successful tennis players.

In 2009, Zheng separated from the Chinese Tennis Association (CTA).

She talked about how it protected her in times of injury and when she was not playing well, for the CTA would back her completely and give her medical support.

Now she manages her own money, which puts her at risk but also means that successes will be more profitable.

She also reached the semifinals of the 2010 Australian Open.

In April 2016, Zheng announced on social media that she had given birth to her first child.

Zheng's game is characterised by consistency, intellect, quick reflexes and fighting spirit.

She is not the strongest player, but makes up for this with her careful thinking of where to place her shots and willingness to change game plans if a strategy is not working.

Her shots are of a lot of pace and very well placed, making Zheng an excellent defensive counterpuncher.