On January 15, Beijing time, a focus match in the second round of the 2025 Australian Tennis Open women's singles saw Chinese tennis star Zheng Qinwen lose 0-2 to German veteran Siegemund and was eliminated from the tournament. There were reports that Zheng Qinwen refused to shake hands with the umpire after the match due to a dispute over serving time during the game. Was this really the case?
From the footage captured by netizens at the scene, it can be seen that Siegemund excitedly fell to the ground and covered her face in celebration after winning the match, while Zheng Qinwen walked up to shake hands with the umpire first. After that, Zheng Qinwen waited at the net and shook hands with Siegemund before leaving the court. Because the broadcast camera focused on Siegemund after her victory and did not capture the moment when Zheng Qinwen shook hands with the umpire, many netizens mistakenly thought that Zheng Qinwen was dissatisfied with the umpire due to the controversial call during the match and refused to shake hands after the game. Some extreme netizens even criticized Zheng Qinwen for being "unable to accept defeat." However, in fact, Zheng Qinwen not only shook hands with the umpire but also waited at the net to shake hands with her opponent Siegemund.
The controversial call in the match against Siegemund was the first time in Zheng Qinwen's career that she was penalized for losing a serve. In fact, she was affected and made two double faults in that game, resulting in a break of serve. After the match, Zheng Qinwen admitted that the umpire's decision had an impact on her, but she did not use it as an excuse for the loss. With Zheng Qinwen's current world ranking and overall strength, she will have more opportunities to compete on big stages in the future, including but not limited to the four Grand Slam events. She may also encounter another controversial call that she cannot understand or disagrees with. How to digest it and use it as motivation to win the game is one of the challenges that China's "No. 1" tennis player needs to overcome.
In fact, even top players like Djokovic and Federer have faced controversial calls in their long careers, which is difficult to avoid for every top player. As a newcomer to the professional tennis world who has not been around for too long, Zheng Qinwen's response to the controversial call is already commendable. Although she was unable to maintain the points from last year's Australian Open runner-up, it is believed that after fully recovering from her elbow injury, Zheng Qinwen has the ability to bring more surprises to fans.