Zheng Qinwen suffered a slight setback ahead of the 2024 season as the world No. 5 is set to be without coach Pere Riba during the upcoming Australian Open.
Since reuniting in late 2023, the two have had great success together as the Chinese won the Paris Olympics this year, as well as made the finals at the Australian Open and WTA Finals. Also, she made a top-5 debut.
Zheng Qinwen and Pere Riba© Pere Riba/Instagram – Fair Use
But since Riba – who ended his pro career in 2018 after injuring his hip in an accident – is set for a hip surgery, he won’t be able to accompany Zheng at Melbourne Park. Instead, the 22-year-old is set to work with Dante Bottini, who is a very well-known coaching name in the game.
However, according to Marca, the former Spanish tennis player should be ready to rejoin the Chinese’s team in the spring when the time comes for the WTA 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
How Zheng feels about Riba as her coach?
In their first stint, they worked for two and a half years and the Spaniard helped the current world No. 5 establish herself as a WTA player. But the real improvement and growth happened in their current stint, which made Riba as one of the candidates for the WTA Coach of the Year.
And Zheng absolutely loves what the 36-year-old brings to the table.
“He always has lot of passion on tennis. This is important. He really wants to be a good coach. Not so many coaches on tour have this type of passion. Many coaches, they just consider this as a high prize job. But there are a few coaches on tour, they really love the tennis, they want their player to become the best, they want their player to improve every single day. I think he’s this type of coach,” Zheng said of her coach in Riyadh.