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HENGQIN LIFE WTA ELITE TROPHY ZHUHAI

October 30, 2017

Peng Shuai

Zhuhai, China

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese, please.

Q. You've been in Zhuhai for a few days. Talk about your training.
PENG SHUAI: I've been here for almost a week. I have been here actually last year, and I remember it was quite hot and humid. But this year the weather is pretty much very comfortable, not as hot as it was last year.

I feel happy and excited about this. I've been waiting for this tournament for a long time. I've always said that I wanted to be a part of the tournament since the first year.

I was here for another ITF tournament last year. I didn't play in the Elite Trophy last year, so I'm happy I can be here this year.

Everything feels pretty normal up to now. I've been here pretty early. I had a chance to play on the center court, and I feel the court is pretty nice.

Q. Talk about your recovery, your injury.
PENG SHUAI: Why are you asking this every time? It's like your interest in my injury is way beyond your interest in how I play.

Of course, I've recovered, otherwise I wouldn't be here.

Q. Can you talk about the draw with CoCo and Elina.
PENG SHUAI: CoCo has had a great year in terms of Grand Slams. Elina also won a tournament. To be in the same group as the two of them is great.

Q. Can you talk about how you think about your strategy, your impressions of them, and are you confident that you can win your round robin?
PENG SHUAI: Elina is a great player, both as a singles and doubles player. We've played many times before. We both have losses and wins. We haven't played in the past two years, but we do practice together sometimes.

CoCo, I know she's a super powerful player. I don't remember that I have ever played her before. We did practice together before.

The two of them are super powerful. They have their strengths. CoCo is also a great doubles player, but she doesn't play doubles that much. They are both pretty versatile in terms of their serving and from the baseline. Of course, I hope that I can play well in the match, and I'll do my best.

Q. Martina Hingis just announced her retirement in Singapore. You've played her many times, both singles and doubles. Do you feel bad about her retirement? How do you feel about that?
PENG SHUAI: Well, singles and doubles are different. For singles, I find it quite interesting because after her second return, I played her in the first round of the US Open that year. If I remember correctly, I was playing in the China Open in 2007. At the time China Open was still in its early stages. We had a match at the tennis center in the second round. That was her last match before her last retirement in singles.

We did play each other a few times in doubles. I didn't win any matches in the last three meetings. She is such an inspired and smart player. I'm not sure if she will return again.

Q. Many unknown questions were answered yesterday in Singapore, including who won the year-end No. 1. After this entire year, most of the major championships belong to different players. In such a diversified world, what are your thoughts? Do you think this is very much encouraging for you?
PENG SHUAI: I think from a comprehensive perspective, everybody now has a chance because like this they will be more unknown factors, and everybody can have more chances than they had before, such as Serena. She's so powerful. In the past, she may have had a better chance of winning than most of the other players. But this is a different story now.

I think it's pretty normal. Everybody will have their ups and downs, so everybody will have their chances. I think this is a great year for me. I wasn't quite sure in the beginning of the year. Coming back in the WTA, sometimes I played the doubles. I wasn't sure I could finish this year. My ranking now, both in singles and doubles, are giving me better confidence than I had last year. For the rest of this year and for next year, I'm really having a lot of expectations.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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