Original title: American player Opelka retired (quote)
Zhang Zhizhen made a substitute and went straight to the Australian Open (theme)
Tonight’s news (Haihe Media Center reporter Zhang Lulu) Good news came on the evening of January 4 Beijing time: Due to the retirement of American player Opelka, Zhang Zhizhen qualified for the Australian Open men’s singles 2023. This is the first time a Chinese men’s singles player has entered the main match of a Grand Slam tennis tournament by virtue of his world ranking in the Open Era.
In October 2022, Zhang Zhizhen’s ATP world rankings rose to No. 96, becoming the first men’s singles player from mainland China to rank in the top 100 in the world. Under normal circumstances, the world rankings can essentially guarantee a qualification for the Australian Open. However, due to the use of “protection ranking” by many players this year to participate in the Australian Open, Zhang Zhizhen was once excluded from the main match list. However, as world ranked 38th Opelka withdrew, Zhang Zhizhen qualified for the Australian Open.
This will be the third time in Zhang Zhizhen’s career that he will play in the Grand Slam tennis tournament. At Wimbledon in 2021 and the US Open in 2022, Zhang Zhizhen twice started from the qualifying rounds and reached the main draw of the Grand Slam. Unfortunately, she lost 2-3 in the first round of both events. Now that Zhang Zhizhen has entered the Australian Open by virtue of his world ranking, he will once again throw an impact on his first Grand Slam win.
