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HENGQIN LIFE WTA ELITE TROPHY ZHUHAI

October 21, 2019

Elise Mertens

Zhuhai, China

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. You're playing doubles next weeks with Aryna and now you're in the same group with her for singles. Curious if you have spoken at all and what you make of your group?
ELISE MERTENS: Well, I mean, we play each other, so I mean it's another opponent, like the others. She actually came to me like, We're playing each other, did you see the group? And I'm like, Yeah. And she's like, well it's just like a match like another and next week we'll be on the same side of the court and this week we'll be on the opposite side.

Q. A lot of doubles teams who are primarily singles players tend to practice singles with each other. Do you practice a lot with her and obviously you know what to expect, but do you play a lot together?
ELISE MERTENS: Well she has a lots of private sessions with the coach. Me too, actually. Just to get to know the courts a little bit better and everything. I'll be on center court today but I'll play with Zheng. So sometimes we play doubles, we practice doubles, but not that often, actually, our main focus is on singles.

Q. You're here in Zhuhai and next week for Shenzhen, so how do you feel your physical feeling is right now for your last two weeks' matches?
ELISE MERTENS: It's the last two weeks and I'm really excited that I'm qualified for both and I think it's something really positive to be participating in both tournaments. So I'm going to give it all every match and see how it goes.

Physically, of course, a little jetlagged but still okay. I'm actually feeling okay at the moment, so I'm ready to play.

Q. You and Donna went to the amusement park yesterday and you raced in the cars. Curious what you made of the experience.
ELISE MERTENS: It was really nice. I really liked it and they explained a little bit of how the team part works and everything and the little kids were there. So I kind of went in a cart with a little kid driving around, but it was a nice experience, yeah, I liked it.

Q. It's been awhile since you won the doubles in the U.S. Open, but I still want to congratulate you. How does that feel for you? It is your first Grand Slam title, I think.
ELISE MERTENS: Yeah, that was a really special two weeks, also in singles and in doubles. So, yeah, it's the first time that we played a finals of a Grand Slam together and we both were a little bit nervous, of course. But we are really happy with the title.

And it's been a good doubles year so far. So every time we play with each other it goes pretty well. Sometimes of course we lose too. But, yeah, it's going pretty well and we got a lot of confidence out of that and hopefully we can go out and since and do the same thing or have good results.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese.

Q. We know it's very hard to perform well in both singles and doubles and you've been doing great in this year in both singles and doubles. How do you strike a balance between the two?
ELISE MERTENS: You know, there are a lot of matches to be played if you're playing singles and doubles. So I tried to play less doubles this year. And actually I did the last tournament, we did quite well.

So I just love both and I will, as long as I can do both -- and I'm still young, so I can, my recuperation will be faster. But, yeah, I think doubles also helps with singles with the serve, the return, the volleys.

But of course the priority is still singles and it will always be. But I just love to do both, yeah.

Q. We know Kim is coming back next year as she's the premier for the Belgian tennis, I want to know your thoughts about her decision and what do you think we can expect for the coming season from her?
ELISE MERTENS: I mean it was really a surprise that she was coming back. But I've seen her practicing and everything. She hits it so clean. Playing matches is always different than practicing, so I think she will get used to it after a couple of tournaments, maybe at the first tournament, you never know. But, yeah, she is Kim Clijsters, so she will do great.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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