At the ATP 500 Rotterdam Open last week, China's men's tennis brother was swept out of the tournament by his opponent in a clash with the tournament's fourth seed Rublev. So far, since the ATP 250 Hangzhou Open final at the end of September 2024, he has experienced a wave of nine consecutive defeats. And eight of those nine consecutive defeats have come in the first round of tours and Grand Slams. This is the first time since entering professional tennis that Zhang Zhizhen has lost eight consecutive first-round games. So, who did he lose to in these eight consecutive defeats? Today, let the humble article take you to see it.

On September 28, 2024, in the first round of the ATP500 China Open Tournament, Zhang Zhizhen's opponent was Spanish player Fokina. Although he is ranked higher in the world than his opponent, Fokina will undoubtedly have more confidence against Zhang Zhizhen because he has won all of his previous matches against the Chinese player. In this match, although Zhang Zhizhen dragged his opponent into the deciding set, unfortunately he still lost to his opponent in the end.

On October 3, 2024, in the first round of the Shanghai Masters, Zhang Zhizhen's opponent was Belgian player Berges. In this match, Zhang Zhizhen, who had reached the top 16 of the Shanghai Masters, did not play his strength at all, and he lost to his opponent in two sets, and had to accept the fact that he was out of the first round in front of his hometown parents.

On October 15, 2024, in the first round of the ATP 250 Almaty Open, Zhang Zhizhen's opponent was Russian qualifier Karatsev. It is worth mentioning that the two can be said to be old rivals, in October 2022, Zhang Zhizhen won two sets in a row against Karatsev after losing one set in the first round of the ATP 500 Astana, thus winning his second victory on the ATP 500 Tour. However, at the beginning of May 2023, in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters, Karatsev defeated Zhang Zhizhen in straight sets and reached the semifinals of the Masters for the first time in his career. This time, the two fought each other, and it was Karatsev who had the last laugh.

On October 23, 2024, at the ATP 500 Vienna Open, facing the third seed of the tournament, Bulgarian player Dimitrov, although Zhang Zhizhen tried his best and even forced his opponent to a seventh-point score, unfortunately, due to the gap in strength and experience, he finally lost to his opponent.

On October 28, 2024, in the first round of the Paris Masters, facing the Argentine player Echeverri, who had reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, Zhang Zhizhen only won three games in the first set, and forced his opponent into a tie-break in the second set. In the case of match points in the tie-break, he saved two match points. However, in the end, he still lost to his opponent and won five consecutive tournaments.

On January 6, 2025, Zhang Zhizhen, who had just led the Chinese tennis team to the quarterfinals of the United Cup for the second time, was swept out of the competition in the first round of Adelaide against the former Wimbledon semifinalist and Canadian Shapovalov. After ending this contest, Zhang Zhizhen fell headlong into the five-set battle that many fans are familiar with in the first round of the Australian Open against the post-00 Danish player Rune, who had won the Masters championship. This time, Zhang Zhizhen still failed to get the victory.

Then, it came to the scene at the beginning of the article, on February 4, Zhang Zhizhen lost to Rublev for the fourth time, and went out in the first round of tennis tournaments for eight consecutive times. Some fans feel that Zhang Zhizhen's strength is really not good, while some fans are even more sneering at him. However, it must be noted that Fokina has reached the final of the Masters, Berges has also reached the tour final, Karatsev and Shapovalov have reached the semi-finals of the Grand Slam, Dimitrov has reached the top 10 in the 2024 season, and the rest of the players have also achieved good results. For Zhang Zhizhen, who has reached the quarterfinals of the Masters twice and is still the first brother of Chinese men's tennis, perhaps we should understand and encourage him more, and believe that he will gradually get out of the predicament in the next games.

A lot of times, the world of tennis is really just a teahouse. In this teahouse, there are many, many tea customers who have been here for a long time, and some of them have become quite famous. However, there are always fledgling tea drinkers who come here and look forward to tasting the sweet tea with their own efforts. And the author is just a small scholar in the corner of this teahouse who tells the stories of these tea customers in obscurity. I hope my article can bring some fresh information to all fans. Whether it's compliments or criticisms, maybe it's just to be able to get me far. That's it for today, and it continues tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)