1, Iga Swiatek, en route to becoming the first Asian tennis player to win an Olympic gold medal in singles.

Zheng won her first WTA Tour tournament in 2023 at the Palermo Ladies Open, successfully defending the title the following year.

[6] On 20 June 2021, she won the final of the $60k Macha Lake Open in Staré Splavy defeating Aleksandra Krunić in two sets.

[7] Zheng made her WTA Tour debut at the Palermo Ladies Open, where she defeated second seed Liudmila Samsonova in the first round,[8] before losing her next match to Jaqueline Cristian.

[11] A week after the Melbourne Summer Set, Zheng qualified for her first major event,[12][13] at the Australian Open and defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round.

[16] Next, she beat former French Open champion and 19th seed, Simona Halep, her first top-20 win, to move to the third round of a major for the first time in her career.

[30] At the Pan Pacific Open in Japan, Zheng became the first Chinese teenager to reach a WTA Tour final which she lost to Liudmila Samsonova.

[34] On her debut at the Italian Open, she defeated Alizé Cornet,[35] Anna Bondár,[36] and Wang Xiyu[37] to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to 11th seed Veronika Kudermetova.

19 in the WTA rankings, becoming the fifth Chinese player to break into the top 20[39][40] At the French Open, as the 19th seed, she beat Tamara Zidanšek in the first round,[41] before losing to Yulia Putintseva in the second.

[42] After the French Open, Zheng split from Pere Riba and began working with Naomi Osaka's longtime coach Wim Fissette.

[48] As the 23rd seed, Zheng defeated Nadia Podoroska[49] and Kaia Kanepi[50] to reach the third round of the US Open, where she beat Lucia Bronzetti in a three sets.

[55] She captured her second career title on home soil at the WTA 500 Zhengzhou Open defeating Barbora Krejčíková in the final.

[citation needed] At the Australian Open, Zheng reached her first major final defeating Ashlyn Krueger,[63] Katie Boulter,[64] compatriot Wang Yafan,[65] and Océane Dodin[66] on her way to the quarterfinals.

At the Paris Olympics, Zheng defeated Sara Errani, Arantxa Rus, Emma Navarro,[76] Angelique Kerber[77]and top seed Iga Świątek[78] en route to the gold medal match.

[83] In October, wins over Kamilla Rakhimova,[84] Nadia Podoroska,[85] Amanda Anisimova[86] and 17th seed Mirra Andreeva[87] saw Zheng reach the semifinals at the China Open where she lost to Karolina Muchová.

[98][99] At the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Zheng lost her opening group match against Aryna Sabalenka[100] but then defeated Elena Rybakina[101] and Jasmine Paolini[102] to reach the semifinals where she overcame Barbora Krejčíková, in straight sets.

[113] Following her gold medal win at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Zheng said that she had always wanted "to become one of the Asians that can inspire young kids and make them love tennis more".

[115][116] She also said she looked up to Liu Xiang, a Chinese hurdler whose win in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics was China's first gold in any men's track and field event.