Zheng Jie was born in Chengdu, Sichuan, China on July 5, 1983. She has been ranked world number 15, and as of August 2013, has been ranked world number 56 in singles and world number 23 in doubles.She had begun to play at the age of 10 when she saw her older sister play.Her parents had thought that she wouldn't have been a good player since she was rather small, but her foreign coach told them otherwise.She is a defensive tennis player, and because of this, has even been nicknamed by some journalist as "The Great Wall of China."

Zheng Jie has donated a lot of her prize money to those in need.For example, she donated and spent time helping the victims of the May 12 eathquake that had killed about 70,000 people and left 5-10 million homeless in her home province of Sichuan.She has also brought and distributed tennis balls and raquets to children affected by the earthquake.

The reason I respect Zheng Jie as a tennis player is because, even though at an early age many had told her that she couldn't play, she still did't give up.Also, she was nice enough to donate her winnings to those in need in her home province of Sichuan.