Former Australian Open finalist to miss Melbourne Park Grand Slam
Zheng Qinwen’s injury nightmare continues as she will miss a consecutive Grand Slams as she is still not 100% ready to return to action.
The Chinese star missed the bulk of the second half of the 2025 season due to a right elbow problem as, after losing in the first round at Wimbledon, she missed the North American hard-court swing, including the US Open, and then returned at the China Open, but she retired injured during her second match.
She had high hopes of competing at the Australian Open, but has now conceded defeat in her bid to be fully fit for the season-opening Grand Slam, which gets underway on January 18.
“After careful evaluation from my team and following medical advice, unfortunately, I will be withdrawing from the 2026 Australian Open,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Making this decision was incredibly difficult for me. Melbourne is the ‘lucky place’ of my career, where I won my first Grand Slam main draw match and where I had my best experience.
“I have a special connection to this place and I was very eager to start my new season at Melbourne Park.
“Although my recovery is progressing well and my off-season has gone smoothly, to play a Grand Slam requires players to maintain an extreme competitive condition. Currently, I have not yet reached my best condition that I have set for myself.”
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Slipping Down The Rankings
Zheng enjoyed a dream 2024 campaign that saw her win the gold medal in the singles at the Paris Games and finish runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open and Coco Gauff at the WTA Finals.
On the back of those results, she reached a new career-high of No 4 in the WTA Rankings in June 2025 and spent most of the campaign inside the top 10, but her lack of action during the last few months of the season resulted in a dip in the rankings.
After failing to defend her points at the WTA Finals, the 23-year-old slumped out of the top 20 for the first time since October 2023 as she finished the year at No 25.
She is set to drop even further as she won’t be able to defend her points from last year’s Australian Open, but the good news is that she will only drop 70 points as she lost in the second round 12 months ago.
Zheng finished the 2025 season with a 20-12 win-loss record as she played in only 12 tournaments.
