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SHISEIDO WTA FINALS SHENZHEN

November 3, 2019

Ashleigh Barty

Shenzhen, China

A. BARTY/K. Pliskova

4-6, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How does it feel to be making history tomorrow, what this occasion means to you, whether you or Elina wins?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: I mean, it's been an incredible year for myself and my team. It's the perfect way to cap it off. An opportunity in another final in such a prestigious event, really special.

Knowing you've played the best of the best during the week, now you have the opportunity to play for a title, it's really special.

Q. Talk through the match. Saving 11 of 12 breakpoints seemed significant. Also the adjustments after you spoke with Craig after the set break.
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, probably one of the few times when he came for an on-court coaching and he didn't get much of a word in. I was pretty happy to have a bit of a chat during that one.

The 1-All game in the second set was massive. Being able to dig out of that hole from Love-40 was huge. I think it was just a focus of mine to take the first opportunity I got in the second set. I missed the two opportunities that I had in the first. That came back to get me a little bit.

Really happy we were able to get through the 1-All game, play some good tennis through that game, break straight away off the back of that one.

Q. You said you were having trouble getting out of the low rallies when you spoke to Craig. What problem solving did you employ?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: I think it's a court that once it's kind of low it stays low. Hard to really rip up the back of the ball when the ball is below the height of the net. It seems frequent, especially off Kaja's ball. It's a flat ball, coming from a taller trajectory. Once it's coming down, it stays down.

I think I needed to use my slice a bit better, position my slice a little better on the court to make her then have to rip up the back and give me a little bit of height to work with.

She's an incredible ball-striker. She returned exceptionally well today. Pushed me back off the baseline very early in a lot of rallies.

Q. How do you look ahead to the next one with Elina? Lopsided head-to-head. Do you think about it, not think about it?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: I think it's an easy one to think about because I have an opportunity to try something different. I have an opportunity to go out in the match and try something because previously what we've done hasn't quite worked or I haven't executed well enough over a long enough period to be effective.

It's a match I'm looking forward to. It's always an extremely tough match against Elina. She's an incredible opponent, knows how to win on the biggest stage.

I think for me it's an opportunity to come out tomorrow, try to enjoy it, try to finish off the season really well, a season that's been magical. To cap it off with a chance to win another title is really exciting.

Q. Did all the year-end No. 1 stuff kind of feel a little surreal?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, I mean, it's probably the best dressed I've ever rocked up to a press conference, that's for sure (smiling).

It's an incredible achievement for myself, but also for all of the people around me. I have so many incredible people around me helping me day in, day out to try to be the best that I can be. It's a bonus that we're able to try and do that playing tennis.

I think all in all, the genuine people that I have around me help me become a better person. I think it's just really nice to be able to share this ride with them, share this journey with them on the tennis court.

It's been an incredible year, it really has. Hopefully we can still celebrate a win tomorrow.

Q. What do you remember of the match from Indian Wells? What do you take out of it?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: It was a match that I earmarked earlier in the year. It took a few days to get over. I felt like in that match over the course of the three sets I did a better job of playing the way that I wanted to play. It was just kind of missed opportunities. The bonus is I get another chance to try to rectify that as best that I can.

Elina has the ability to put balls in very awkward situations, make you play a lot of balls, make you earn every single point. I'm looking forward to that challenge. Knowing it's kind of the last one of the year, you can leave no stone unturned.

Q. Record-breaking prize money tomorrow. Everybody says we play for the love of the game, not for the money. It's a lot of zeros. What do you take away from that headline, what it means for the tour, you personally, women's sport?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: I think that's the biggest thing, it's been a growth of women's sport. For me individually, and I think for all of us players individually, it's not something we think about. It's more of kind of a general progression of putting our sport more on the map.

I think we have the most beautiful sport, it's a global sport. Now we're getting more attention. I feel like we've earned that.

As Micky has said a million times: We've come from nothing and now we're in this position where we're breaking records. It's very special for our game, the WTA, all of the people behind the scenes that do so much hard work to try to put our sport on the map, try to create more of an interest globally.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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