China's No.1 tennis player Wang Qiang to take one month off for injury

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Wang Qiang, who ranks no. 18 in the world and no. 1 in China, will miss the upcoming events - Fed Cup, and two Women's Tennis Association (WTA) events in Qatar and Dubai - as she announced on her social media Weibo on Sunday that she'll be taking time off due to injury.

"The doctor suggested that I should rest at least for a month," the 27-year-old wrote on Weibo.

The right hander's latest performance was at the 2019 Australian Open in January. Being the 21st seed, Wang was defeated by 13th-seed Anastasija Sevasova of Latvia. Last August, Wang representing China won singles' gold at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Her coach Peter McNama, 63, was a former right-hander tennis player of Australia, who won five singles and 19 doubles titles during his professional career.

Wang's break will affect the strength of Team China as she was scheduled to play at the Fed Cup group matches between February 9 and 10 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Her teammates included Zhang Shuai (world no. 40 and China no.2), who won the doubles' title with Australian Samantha Stosur at 2019 Australian Open, and Zheng Saisai (world no.42 and China no.3), Peng Shuai and Xu Yifan.

The other two WTA events that Wang will miss are the Qatar Total Open, which will be held between February 11-16 in Doha, and the Dubai Tennis Championships, which will last from February 17 to March 2 in the UAE city.