Zheng Jie
7.5
2 votes
Age: 27
Zheng Jie (simplified Chinese: 郑洁; traditional Chinese: 鄭潔; pinyin: Zhèng Jié) is a Chinese professional female tennis player. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan province. She made her WTA rankings debut in 2000. She turned professional in 2003 and ended the year for the first time in the top 100. As of 13 April 2009, she is ranked world number 16, making her China's and Asia's highest-ranked women's singles player. This is also the highest ranking that a Chinese player has ever reached, which Li Na also reached such high rank on 15 January 2007.
At Wimbledon in 2008, Zheng gained recognition when she became the first Chinese player ever to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament, defeating World No. 1 Ana Ivanović en route. She donated her winnings to the victims of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in her native province. She has won three career WTA singles titles: Hobart in 2005, Estoril, Portugal and Stockholm in 2006. She has also won eleven WTA doubles titles, all with Yan Zi, including Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Zheng Jie and her partner Yan Zi won the bronze medal in women's tennis doubles, the second time that China has won an Olympics tennis medal.
See also: Chinese, Athlete, Tennis
