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CHINA OPEN

October 4, 2015

Shuai Zhang

BEIJING, CHINA

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese, please.

Q. How do you sum up this match today? Are you satisfied with the result?
SHAUI ZHANG: I think to me losing the match is less satisfactory than winning it, of course.
But the good thing is on court I can find myself during the match. I was playing at my highest level, even though the results or the scores are not showing it. I'm not capable of winning the key points. I still need some time to be at my best.

Q. You just said you still need some time. The time you're referring to is the time to take to beat the top‑10 players or the time you need to reach the peak of your career? How long is the time?
SHAUI ZHANG: I think the time really means that I need to get to a level where I'm satisfied with myself, a breakthrough, the time I need for a breakthrough.
In the past I've been playing, practicing with these people, and I know them very well. How do I put it? I feel that after injuries, it's been a year. In the past year I've been feeling lost on the court. I can't really play the way I want to.
But to my relief, I'm performing better. It's heading towards a better trend. This is something I'm really pleased with.

Q. Could you talk about, from your personal perspective, to reach the level of those previous Chinese players, what are some of the aspects you want to improve? You mentioned you are heading towards a better trend. When do you expect this breakthrough to happen?
SHAUI ZHANG: Well, first of all, even if I do my utmost, if I try my best, I may not be able to do as you expect. I may not be as good as Li Na and Peng Shuai. I just want to be myself.
Before last year, I never expected myself to be playing at this level that I'm playing today. Comparing the past with today, I'm really happy I'm still on court. No matter what happens in the future, be it No.30 or No.300, I hope that I can enjoy tennis.
I can never know what will happen in the future. I can't really promise you what I will do in the future. I can only promise you that I will do my best.
I'm not sure what kind of breakthrough I'll have. I'm doing my best every day. I'm practicing, I'm working hard, improving myself in different aspects.
But it doesn't mean that everyone's work pays off and not everyone who does a lot of work can be the No. 1 in the world. The only thing I can promise is to work hard, to be better than the previous Zhang Shuai. I will not be comparing to anybody else's achievements. There's nothing to compare with. Everyone is different.
I'm honored to be part of the Chinese team. In my career, I can witness the achievements of so many good players. I am proud of these athletes.

Q. You just mentioned you were bothered by injuries. Could you tell us how hard it was to recover from the injuries.
SHAUI ZHANG: It is very natural for athletes to get injured. Every day we struggle with these issues. Every day we want to be better. Injuries are inevitable.
Physical pain can be overcome. But the most difficult thing is when you come back to the court, before injury you were in a very good place, playing at a very high level, and you had a good ranking. When you're playing every match, you can make it to the fourth round, top 16, top 8, and you can play against top players, Grand Slam champions.
But after injury, you come back to the court, you cannot find your old self, the previous level. You're always one step away from victory.
This kind of feeling, this feeling of loss, is very puzzling. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, where my mistakes are, but I'm always several steps away from victory.
The sense of puzzling, the sense of loss is a big trouble I'm facing.

Q. Talk about the players younger than you on the team. What are the differences between you, or there are no differences between tactics, strategies, how you grow up?
SHAUI ZHANG: Even if in one group of players everyone has their own features, how they play, it depends on how one grew up, what are the features of their coaches. Everyone is unique. No matter what their age is, they might be senior players, young players, as long as they can win the matches, it's the best.
As long as they feel good, that's the most important thing. We're seeing a lot of Chinese players who are able to have good results at high‑level matches, which is really good.

Q. About sponsors and your team, are there any changes, number of sponsors?
SHAUI ZHANG: Not many big changes in my team and sponsors. Today I met my previous coaches. I'm really happy they're rooting for me.
I want to do better, to perform better for all my coaches. When I play on the court, I think back to all the memories from teenage years till now, every step, all the time I spent with them. These are all the motivation that keeps me going on. All of them can be present. Today I'm really happy and deeply moved.
My vice coach has been with me since my teenage years. I've been with this coach for many years, since a teenager. He has brought me to the top 100. I'm grateful. I see friends and fans who are supporting me today. They're cheering for me. I'm really happy, especially at this stage that they're still here for me.

Q. You just mentioned you're happy to see so many Chinese players in this tournament. A lot of Chinese players get into the China Open through wild cards. Do you think the tournaments held in China will be helpful for Chinese players and young players?
SHAUI ZHANG: Definitely. This is very helpful. My growth, my achievements, all of this is owing to a few years ago when China started to hold important tennis tournaments. Thanks to these tournaments, I have accumulated experience and have gained many points to improve in the rankings. I was able to participate in the China Open and other tournaments.
Young Chinese players today have more opportunities because there are many tournaments held in China, not only the WTA matches. For them, they don't even have to go out of China to get many points and get really good results. Those senior players who are older than me, they have to go abroad to play matches. It was difficult and hard for them. They reached really good results and this is what we should learn from.

Q. You just recovered from injury. You really need a physical coach. Do you have a candidate on your team? If you don't have one, how would you best guarantee your health and protect yourself?
SHAUI ZHANG: In the past year I've always had people who have helped me with my health, my physical fitness, my recovery, planning how to practice. In the national team, I've got a lot of support from a lot of people. Without their support, I would not be standing here today. This has a lot to do with the work of many of my colleagues. I really cherish every opportunity on the court in every match.

Q. Many Chinese players are appearing at Grand Slams. How does that affect you? Is it a motivation or more a pressure?
SHAUI ZHANG: Do you feel any pressure when there are a lot of journalists in this room? We're all players. We're all athletes. Without Chinese players, there would definitely be Japanese, Korean, U.S. players. There are always 128 athletes competing with each other. There's one position for one person, and this makes for difference to me. I don't think of it as a pressure.
Tennis as a sport is very professional. It's a very mature system. It's very well‑established and it's open to everyone regardless of nationalities and ethnicities. Everyone can participate in it. We're all performing at this stage, showing our best.

Q. I'm puzzled. You went solo. You have a physical trainer. Did you hire him or the Tianjin team paid for it?
SHAUI ZHANG: I am paying for it. If I have any need, the national team, the provincial team will give me support also.

Q. Are you feeling the pressure of the costs?
SHAUI ZHANG: Here I would like to say thank you to my sponsors. My sponsors have always given me support, financial support. Since I went solo till today, low ranking or high ranking, I have always gotten this support.
When you have a really high ranking, you don't really feel these things. But when you're in some difficulties, you can really feel the support from your surroundings. The Tennis Association of China, the team of Tianjin, Chinese players, my sponsors. They are always asking me, What do you need? What can we do? They're always giving me the utmost support. This is what keeps me going.

Q. This is your first encounter with this opponent. You lost the match. What did you learn from this match? What kind of positive things have you taken away?
SHAUI ZHANG: I have won two matches since last time I saw you. I have been struggling with injuries. I never thought that I could keep on playing tennis in such a short time. I withdrew from the Zhuhai tournament and play today at such level. I'm really happy. I'm actually feeling like I'm back. I'm happy not only because of the result, I'm happy because I can find myself back on court, back to the state I'm pleased with. I really need some time and more matches.

Q. You just mentioned you couldn't really grasp the key points. To get the key points, do you need more experience or better strategies or a better coach? These are very important things to close the gap between you and the top players.
SHAUI ZHANG: You actually want me to find excuses to explain why I lost. Some people lose some matches. They change their coaches, change their racquets. But I'm a very persistent person. I would like to stick to one method, stick to my team. I've been fighting with them for so long. They have helped me to reach a very high level. I have full trust in them and I believe they can get me to the place I want to be.
I trust my team. It's really hard for me to trust the coaches of your previous opponents or your enemies. I will like to reach my goal through my own effort and through the effort of my team, of my colleagues. I'm standing on court not only representing myself but also those people standing behind me.
We can look at the problems, what I did wrong in the match. But I don't think changing my team, changing my coaches, is the key. The biggest problem is myself. If I don't win matches, I should work harder, make some adjustments. But I don't think this is the fault of my team. Without them I would not be standing here. I think and I hope through our efforts together we can come back.
With regard to key points, I don't know how other people deal with it, but for me I think I need to win more matches to get back to the state and level of confidence that I had. If I don't get victories for a long time, I will lose confidence in myself and need more victories to recover confidence.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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