Indian wells
Zheng to fly solo in Australia due to coach’s absence
Fifth-ranked Zheng Quinwen will be without a coach to back her up during the Australian summer with her mentor set to miss the series due to hip surgery.
Pere Riba will be out of action until the Indian Wells Masters in March due to his medical condition.
China’s Zheng finished runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka in Melbourne in January and won Asian titles in Wuhan and Tokyo this autumn and played the WTA Finals title match against champion Coco Gauff this month with the Spaniard on board.
Spain’s Marca reports that coaching duties will be taken over for the first months of the year by Dante Bottini, who has worked with ATP players Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori.