Zheng Qinwen's revelation that she was open to being friends with two players on the Tour left fans making jokes and dropping funny guesses.
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In women's tennis, it is not a secret that the Chinese tennis star is not one of the most likable persons in the locker room.
Following their Paris Olympics round-of-16 battle, Emma Navarro said she "did not respect Zheng as a competitor" and added that she "goes about things in a pretty cut-throat way." A couple of days later after losing the Paris Olympics final, Donna Vekic said there were "controversial stories in the locker room" about the Chinese but she didn't want to reveal anything further than that.
Also, there was a bit of an incident with Leylah Fernandez, when Zheng turned to the Canadian's box and gave a stare to her father, which led to the 2021 US Open runner-up also intervening and asking what was her issue.
After that, the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist publicly said that she wasn't interested in having friends on the Tour. But now, her views appear to have changed, at least a bit.
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"Actually, there are two people in the tennis community whom I really want to befriend. But I havent taken that step yet. Ill talk about it once I do," the world No. 8 said, via Chinese sports newspaper Titan Sports.
Fans crack jokes about the Zheng revelation
"Navarro and Fernandez," one fan hilariously guessed.
Another fan found it funny the way the 2024 Australian Open runner-up made the revelation.
"Why does this sound so Machiavellian lmao. I love Qinwen and shes 100% sincere here, but just her stating it aloud is funny," they wrote.
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Meanwhile, one fan joked that Zheng was "bullied" into having at least one friend on the Tour after all the scrutiny she received. "She's being bullied into making a friend on tour."
