BILLIE JEAN KING CUP

September 24, 2026

Zheng Qinwen

Team China

Press Conference

J. PAOLINI/Zheng Qinwen

6-3, 7-6

Team China - 1

Team Italy - 1

THE MODERATOR: Qinwen, tough match for you today. Your thoughts on your match, how the atmosphere was.

ZHENG QINWEN: First of all, I think that atmosphere was incredible. I want to say thank you for all the crowd for come to cheering for Chinese team. I really enjoy the atmosphere.

But it's pity I couldn't performance my best. Yeah, I wish everything can goes well in Team China.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Could you talk about Paolini's game, what you think made the difference today in her victory.

ZHENG QINWEN: Well, I think it's not really depends on what she did, it's more depends on me. Like, actually before this competition I was a bit sick and I hurt a bit myself. I was thinking that should I let someone else to play the match.

But because I know a lot of Chinese fans come to watch me today, I don't want to let them down, so I take the painkiller and step on the court.

But like I say in the beginning, I didn't performance my best tennis. I think at a high level, you don't performance in the top, of course it can happen today.

I feel like right now for me, time to recovery and to keep healthy my body and think on my next steps, yeah.

Q. Can you explain a little bit more about how special it is not only to play in China, but to represent China in this competition.

ZHENG QINWEN: Yeah, for me it's very important to represent China. For me it's kind of a pity. It's like I've been practicing really hard, but because I been recently a lot of traveling. After US Open I came back to Europe, didn't change the jet lag, came back to China. I felt the time zone change still disturbing me. I couldn't sleep well in the night. I think that's one of the reason I had a little pain in my body.

But today for me is a really honor to stay on the court because I really have a lot of doubt yesterday that should I go or should I didn't go.

I want to say thank you for the team to support me, they give lot of courage to step on the court. For me, I did what I can do today. That's it.