Shuai Zhang has forgotten how to win. The Chinese player set a negative record at Wimbledon. Only one other tennis pro has had to wait as long as her for a win
She just can’t win anymore. The Chinese professional tennis player Shuai Zhang has set a negative record. In her 3:6, 0:6 first-round defeat against Daria Kasatkina at Wimbledon on Monday, the 35-year-old left the court as a loser for the 21st time in a row. In doing so, she set the all-time record for professional tennis.
She now shares the title that no professional wants with the American Vince Spadea, who also suffered 21 consecutive defeats between October 1999 and June 2000.
Zhang had already broken the negative record for the WTA Tour in March when she lost in round one at the tournament in Indian Wells. That was her 18th consecutive defeat, surpassing the previous record of Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus (between August 2012 and July 2013) and US American Sandy Collins (1984-87), who had both lost 17 times in a row.
Two Grand Slam titles in doubles
Zhang’s last success dates back to the end of January 2023, when she defeated the American Madison Brengle at the tournament in Lyon. Shortly before that, she had reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open and achieved the best ranking of her career at 22nd.
However, the unprecedented series of defeats in women’s tennis was followed by a fall in the world rankings. The Chinese player is currently only ranked 680th.
During her run of failures, Zhang was the victim of a real tennis scandal. After a blatantly wrong decision by the umpire and the subsequent gross unsportsmanlike conduct of her opponent, Zhang abandoned her first round match at the tournament in Budapest in tears
She has won three tournaments on the WTA Tour and reached three more finals. Her best results at the Grand Slams were a quarter-final at Wimbledon (2019) and the Australian Open (2016). She even triumphed at two majors in doubles (Australian Open 2019 and US Open 2021). Now she is in the biggest crisis of her career
