“Physical training helps, but if I’m playing a tough match, my hands have no feeling. I get nervous when I touch the shuttle. I don’t have the confidence to control my hands,” she said after losing a close second round match to China’s Sun Yu at the Maybank Malaysia Open this week.
Still, with wins over players like Bae Yeon Ju, Tai Tzu Ying and Michelle Li, Zhang has shown she belongs in the world’s elite.
Zhang credits her badminton acumen to her Singapore training under coach Ding Chao for four months.