Tennis ace 'complained to team' after she was left fully unaware of WTA Finals situation

Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen has revealed that she recently complained to her team after being left unaware of her WTA Finals qualification scenario. Zheng is preparing to kick off this year's Asian swing at the China Open, her home tournament in Beijing.

Ahead of the main draw, Zheng made a surprising admission about not knowing if she was in contention to play at the WTA Finals. She decided not to play in a handful of tournaments after finishing as the Australian Open runner-up as she was unaware of the qualification criteria.

Zheng believes she missed out on crucial ranking points by skipping the tournaments and has blamed her team for not keeping her informed.

"It's really funny," she explained. "I made the final of the Australian Open but after that I didn't take some tournaments seriously and didn't get enough points. Judging from the points I have, it's difficult for me to make the finals this year.

"I even complained to the team for not telling me earlier about the qualification of the WTA Finals. Now I feel the pressure but I cannot do anything. All I can do is give my best in the competitions."

Despite not knowing about the qualification criteria earlier this year, Zheng is well-placed to appear at the WTA Finals in November. She is currently ninth on the Race To Finals list with 3070 points, just one position outside the eight automatic qualification places.

Reigning champion Iga Swiatek and US Open winner Aryna Sabalenka are the only players who have already guaranteed a place at the tournament, which will take place in Saudi Arabia.

Zheng has enjoyed a productive year, reaching the Australian Open final before taking home the women's singles gold medal at the Olympics. She also won the Palermo Ladies Open for the second successive year and reached the US Open quarter-finals.

Looking ahead to her next tournament in Beijing, Zheng insisted that she was not feeling the pressure of playing in front of her home crowd and was instead focusing on the positives.

"I think I don't consider that like big pressure," she said. "I will consider it like big support. Especially when I am feeling down, I see all the people's support on me. It is quite different to play in China compared to the rest of the world.

"I know basically all of them, going to be 95 per cent of the crowd, they are going to support me. It is a big confidence [boost]. There's also a big energy there when I'm playing on court."