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CHINA OPEN

October 1, 2016

Angelique Kerber

Beijing, China

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. This is your second time coming to Beijing. As the new No. 1 in the world, do you have more expectations for this tournament?
ANGELIQUE KERBER: You know, I'm just looking forward to being here again in Beijing. I have great memories from the last years. It's nice to be back in China.

I will not putting more pressure on me. I mean, I will try to give my best here and enjoy this tournament.

Q. This year we know you have many good results. How do you keep your consistency in the whole year?
ANGELIQUE KERBER: You know, I'm trying to going to each tournament thinking match by match, not thinking too much what's happen around, just playing my best, practicing good during the tournaments, have good recovery. Yeah, just go and play good matches.

Q. You and Kvitova both had a stunning match earlier this week in the Wuhan Open. What did you learn from that match that you can apply to this tournament?
ANGELIQUE KERBER: I think it was a good match from both of us, on a really high level the whole three and a half hours. You know, I just learned that, yeah, maybe I had to more go for it and just take the match in my hands.

But Petra was playing also very well. I think just one, two points decide the match at the end.

Q. You obviously have grown in confidence through the year with every match and every title. How does confidence change the way you play, the shots you might try? How does it affect the way you play?
ANGELIQUE KERBER: I think it change a little bit because now I have much more confidence when I'm on court. I know what to do in the important moments. That came from the experience which I learned in the last years, especially this year.

Of course, when you go out and you know that your shots are working, you just go for it and you have more confidence than when you go there, yeah, and you're losing matches before.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the big points where you say you know what to do as opposed to before.
ANGELIQUE KERBER: I mean, it's always actually different. It's also depending against who you play and what the score is. At the end you are trying to focusing more on your weapon, on your game than on, yeah, the weapon from your opponents. You're just thinking what you did in your practice sessions and where you feel really confident. So this is what you have to do in the important moments.

Q. Have you got a chance to look at your draw yet?
ANGELIQUE KERBER: I just know that I'm playing against a qualifier. So I don't know yet.

Q. How positive are you feeling to secure your No. 1 place until the WTA Final?
ANGELIQUE KERBER: To be honest, I'm not thinking about this yet. I'm here to playing every single match, to go out and win the matches, then we will see if I can be still the No. 1 at the end.

But yeah, I mean, I just try my best, and then we will see.

Q. One of the things that happens to players when they become very famous, they do very well, is the stuff outside the court. There's a lot of demands on their time which becomes a problem sometimes. Players need to learn to say no. Is that one of the things that's happening to you at the moment, there is a lot of demands on your time? Maybe you have to learn to balance those two things and focus on the tennis.
ANGELIQUE KERBER: Yeah, definitely. It starts actually at the beginning of the year after the Australian Open where I had to learn to get used to all the stuffs around me, which I have to do during the tournaments. Of course, at home much more things changed now. I had to learn to say also no because this is really important at the end to taking care of yourself.

Yeah, I think right now I'm on a good way to deal with all this stuffs because a lot of months now. It starts actually in January. Of course, it's much more. But I'm really happy how I'm doing this. But, of course, you have to learn a lot of things during this process.

Q. Yesterday you already trained in our Diamond Court. Have you noticed some of the new changes in the stadium such as the LED background and its colorful design?
ANGELIQUE KERBER: Yeah, I saw it because I practiced yesterday. It looks nice. Of course, it's always different when you practice and when you play matches because then much more fans are there and the atmosphere, it's different.

That feels good. It looks good. I'm looking forward to play my matches on this nice court.

Q. You mentioned that you received messages from the legend Graf many times before your Grand Slam finals. Can you tell me the contents that inspired you a lot.
ANGELIQUE KERBER: Yeah, she wrote me after Australia and also after New York actually, so it's always nice to get the message from her because, yeah, she was always my idol. At the end I'm trying to going my own way, but it's always special to get messages like this.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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