"Zheng Qinwen very quickly becoming a villain on tour" - Fans divided as reports of World No. 9 refusing to warm up Indian Wells opponent emerge

Zheng Qinwen reached the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open for the first time in her career on Tuesday (March 11), defeating Marta Kostyuk in commanding fashion. However, the tennis community on social media wasn't impressed with the 22-year-old's refusal to complete warm-up at the beginning of the match.

Qinwen started her Round-of-16 encounter against Kostyuk in Indian Wells in ideal fashion as she broke for a 3-1 lead. The two players then exchanged two service breaks each before the eighth seed served out the opening set 6-3. It was then one-way traffic from that point onwards, with the Chinese star breaking serve twice more to notch a 6-3, 6-2 win over the Ukrainian.

While the World No. 9's fourth-round performance was impressive, an on-site fan started a discourse surrounding odd behavior from her at the beginning of the match. According to them, Qinwen refused to prepare her opponent for smashes as she wanted to start practicing her first serves before the warm-up clock ran out.

After much deliberation with the umpire, a few more minutes were added to the warm-up clock and Kostyuk was fed a few smashes at the net before they both started serving. Many fans on X (formerly Twitter) subsequently called out the eighth seed's refusal to fully warm up her 18th-seeded opponent.

While one went as far as to call the Chinese 22-year-old a "villain", another accused her of "bad diva behavior".

"Q is very quickly becoming a villain on tour," one fan wrote.

"Qinwen adopting bad diva behaviour," another insisted.

There were a few fans who defended Zheng Qinwen's actions, though.

"I’ve never understood this. It’s so weird warming up your opponent to beat you. They should warm up on the practice courts with their team and just start playing after the coin toss," one fan wrote.

"Seems to me they had a civil discussion, with Qinwen sharing her preference, which ended in agreement," another claimed.

Here are a few more reactions from social media:

"Qinwen being a b***h? No one is surprised," one fan asserted.

"LOL that's the most queenwen s**t ever," another joked.

"She played the mental game on purpose, Emma was right about her," one fan alleged.

"She is so unlikeable," another wrote.

Zheng Qinwen will next face two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek for a place in the semifinals of the 2025 BNP Paribas Open on Thursday (March 13).

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Zheng Qinwen trails Iga Swiatek 1-6 in their head-to-head meeting on the WTA Tour

Zheng Qinwen and Iga Swiatek at the net following their Olympics match | Image Source: Getty

Zheng Qinwen will be eager to reach the semifinals of a WTA 1000 tournament for the second time in her career when she takes on the World No. 2 Pole in their eighth career meeting. She will have her work cut out considering her 1-6 losing record against the five-time Major winner.

For what it's worth, the Chinese 22-year-old did beat Swiatek in their most recent encounter in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics en route to securing the gold medal.