Barely a year after reaching a career-high in the rankings, Zheng Qinwen is set to crash out of the top 100 on the back of her first-round exit from the French Open.

Zheng has fond memories of Roland Garros as she won singles gold at the 2024 Paris Games and also reached the quarter-final at last year’s clay-court Grand Slam, but a serious elbow injury resulted in surgery, and she missed the US Open and this year’s Australian Open.

The Chinese star only made her return in February, but her return to form has been slow and she dropped out of the top 50 ahead of the French Open.

Facing qualifier Maja Chwalinska in her opener, many expected the 23-year-old to reach the second round, but the Pole came away with a thumping 6-4, 6-0 win.

During her post-match press conference, Zheng – who finished runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the 2024 Australian Open – felt the eighth game of the opening set was key as she also admitted she struggled to adapt on the smaller Court 7.

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“I think, of course, the match doesn’t go my way this time, and… honestly, it was tough conditions for me. The weather has been really hot today, she had a really good game on clay-court, and when she played high balls to me, I couldn’t go that far back a lot of times,” she said.

“I don’t have more space in the back court, there was one time I hit a referee behind the line. Yeah, I mean, there is some key moments, such as 4-4, I’m not doing well, but that’s tennis. I have to go back, work harder, and let’s see next time where is my moment.

“I think it’s more like… the nerves and the pressure today didn’t allow me to play the tennis that I want. Of course, I had some great points, great games, but in important moments, such as 4-4, I remember I lost straight away four points on her service game and three points in my service game, that usually doesn’t happen to me.

“And also, I need to accept today that, okay, I didn’t play well, I lost the match, Roland Garros first round, it’s really, really tough on me, takes this time to handle it.”

She was overcome with emotion after that and after composing herself again, she told journalists, “Sorry, go ahead.”

Having reached the quarter-final last year, Zheng was defending 430 points, but her first-round defeat means she will drop 420 points, resulting in a 63-place drop in the Live Rankings to number No 114.

Later on, she was asked about her ranking and replied: “For me, I didn’t pay too much attention to my ranking, but of course, I need to start all again, and that’s going to be different.

“But I think it’s also going to be kind of positive for me, because I’ve got to play a lot of matches. For me, I think the problem was I needed a lot of matches to get into the rhythm.

“I think, of course, I want to win the match, and I love it here in Roland Garros, but I would say sometimes pressure makes me play better, but today this pressure doesn’t allow me to play freely like I want.

“And like I said, in 4-4, the key moment, I have to say, I did really badly. I lost seven points in a row. After, in the second set, I’m trying to do, I’m trying, keep trying, but it’s just I didn’t find a way today and that’s tennis, I need to accept it and there is nothing more I could say.”