Zheng Qinwen rings in 23rd birthday with karaoke, bushels of flowers

Zheng Qinwen hasn't been singing a happy song for much of the 2025 tennis season. A first major injury and surgery on her troublesome elbow kept the Olympic champion off court for three months this summer, and her comeback tournament was cut short when she retired from the second match at the China Open, where she admitted that she still was not playing at "100%" despite being cleared by doctors.

But any disappointment from an abbrivated on-court homecoming faded this week thanks to a 23rd birthday party that consisted of some of her favorite things.

Read more: Zheng Qinwen out of Wuhan and Ningbo after elbow injury setback

Zheng posted highlights of her celebration to Instagram, thanking her fans and sponsors for showering her with flowers and gifts. Some of the highlights included a blue boquet from communications company Vivo, complete with blue tennis ball accents, soft pink blooms from Lancôme, and creative artistic portraits of herself.

'Never seen anything like this before," she wrote.

She topped it off by singing her heart out at a karaoke bar. Zheng is famously a karaoke queen, first telling reporters at the 2023 US Open that karaoke and rollercoasters are two of her favorite off-court pursuits.

“Mostly I sing Chinese songs, slower songs,” she said. “I also do some Chinese rap. I maybe only sing three or four English songs. For the most part, it’s Chinese.”

After winning her first WTA singles title in Zhengzhou that year, she treated the home fans to an impromptu performance, and also rounded up Team China for an on-camera performance at the 2024 United Cup.

Though she'll fall out of the Top 10 for the first time since January 2024 on Monday, and will fall short of qualifying for the year-end WTA Finals for the second year in a row, Zheng hopes to still be able to end her season on a high note.

Her next scheduled event is the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she is the defending champion. That tournament begins October 20–26.