Zheng reached the Australian Open final in January, where she fell to defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in her first Grand Slam final.

The 22-year-old catapulted herself into Chinese super-stardom later in the summer, however, as Zheng won Olympic Gold in Paris, taking down heavy favorite Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.

Zheng then lost in the Wuhan Open final to Sabalenka, as she came up short against the Belarussian in a big match for the second time this year.

She finished off the year by making the final of the WTA Finals, reaching a career-high of fifth in the world.

A fantastic year, but several big defeats to Sabalenka has one ATP legend worried about Zheng’s future.

Andy Roddick thinks Aryna Sabalenka is ‘exposing’ Qinwen Zheng’s forehand

Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, former US Open champion Andy Roddick spoke about the one area of Zheng’s game that she needs to improve upon to better compete against Sabalenka.

“One of the things she is going to need to solve and the match up which exposes it the most is [Aryna] Sabalenka,” he said.

“She needs a little bit of time on that forehand side.

“When someone can beat her to the punch, she needs to be able to accept power a bit easier and neutralise that power.”

Roddick thinks that if she can get that right, Zheng could quickly find herself challenging for the number one ranking.

“That is going to be the thing which can get her from five to looking at the number one ranking,” he said.

“If she is going to get there I think her shot tolerance has to improve, but she has proven in 2024 that she is not scared to improve her game.”

Zheng gained a lot of fans in 2024, but not too many friends on the WTA Tour, as she prefers to focus on her tennis, rather than enjoy niceties off the court.

Roddick is a big fan of her approach, and says that fans should embrace the different personalities we see in tennis.

“She’s an interesting personality basically saying that I don’t need friends on tour,” he said.

“I like the differences in personalities, I think it’s what makes tennis fun.

“You’re allowed to fight with people, I have fought with a lot of people I am close with.

“That’s what happens in tennis, quite frankly, if we had a camera on your worst day at work it would look bad too.”

Qinwen Zheng and Aryna Sabalenka’s head-to-head record

Zheng and Sabalenka have now faced off against one another five times on the WTA Tour, with the rivalry already looking very lopsided.

The Chinese star has lost all five of their meetings to date, including four this year, as she struggles to keep up with the now three time Grand Slam champion.

Despite Zheng’s incredible performances this year, you can’t help but imagine the year she could have had, if Sabalenka hadn’t stood in her way.

• 2024 Australian Open – winner
• 2024 US Open – Favorite for US Open semi-final against Emma Navarro
• 2024 Wuhan Open – winner

The 22-year-old could already have a Grand Slam title and a WTA 1000 title to her name, if she hadn’t come up against the world number one.

Whilst Roddick makes some very valid points about the problems Zheng faces in the matchup with Sabalenka, it shouldn’t be overlooked just how well she performed in the Wuhan final earlier this year.

Having dropped the first set, Zheng battled back to take the second 7-5, before eventually falling in three.

It was her best performance in five meetings with Sabalenka, taking home her first set against the dominant 26-year-old.

Zheng will no doubt be hoping she finally gets a win over Sabalenka in the new year, and could potentially do so at the Australian Open which begins on January 12.

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