Zheng Qinwen dazzles on another Vogue China cover

More than a year after making history as the first athlete, male or female, to grace the cover of Vogue China, Zheng Qinwen is back in the magazine's spotlight for the December 2025 issue.

The Olympic champion bettered her historic first cover shoot from a year ago with not one, but nearly a half-dozens unique versions for her latest appearance -- and a flurry of other behind-the-scenes content from the featurette dubbed "A Rhythm of Her Own."

In additional to artfully styled street and couture traditional modeling, Zheng shows off her whimsical side in the glossy spread -- which sees her using pumpkins as dumbbells, giggling with candy rings, and volleying bubbles from a bathtub with a giant tennis racquet.

Zheng's on-court rhythm in 2025 was largely disrupted by an elbow injury. She had surgery on the troublesome spot after Wimbledon, and after a brief return to competition at the China Open, she shut down her season shortly after.

But in the written feature that accompanied Zheng's cover, she detailed how she found the opportunity to appreciate and learn from the "slowness" brought on by being sidelined, and how she is deliberate building her "high-rise of life."

"A good professional player should know how to arrange their life," she says. "Before reaching adulthood, your life is arranged for you, and you just need to follow the fixed path. After becoming an adult, once you know what you have chosen, you should take action for your choice: which competitions to participate in and how to allocate your time and energy.”

Despite her injury woes, Zheng -- whose star exploded last year when she became the first-ever Olympic singles tennis gold medalist from China -- remained one of the world's most marketable athletes. She earned $19 million in sponsorship deals in 2025, making her the fifth-highest-paid female athlete globally in a new report by Sportico.