AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 16, 2023

Shang Juncheng

Press Conference

S. JUNCHENG/O. Otte

6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the press conference of Shang Juncheng. First of all, congratulations, Jerry. We will go by Jerry. Is that okay?

SHANG JUNCHENG: Yeah, sure.

THE MODERATOR: You are the youngest player in the men's single draw, and you are only 17 years old. You got your first Grand Slam main-draw wing today. The last one to do so at 17 is Carlos Alcaraz. How do you feel now?

SHANG JUNCHENG: Yeah, I mean, after hearing this I think it's quite a big accomplishment. Looking up to Carlos, he's one of, I mean, he's the best player in the world right now. I mean, just watching him play on the court really inspires me, inspires the young, young players. So to do this, it's very special for me.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What does this mean to you at this stage, and are you surprised?

SHANG JUNCHENG: I'd say in some way, yeah. I'm a little surprised that I came this fast, but at the same time, I think it's all the hard work from my team and myself that paid off. I think I'm just nothing else but excited about what's coming next.

Q. This morning did anything feel different? Obviously 17 years old, waking up for your first main-draw match, were there any extra nerves? What was that experience leading up to the match like?

SHANG JUNCHENG: I think overall this whole week was different for me, playing my first slam, every day I was pretty nervous getting on the court. But at the same time, it's one of the best moments I have had so far in my career, so I'm, like I said, I'm just very excited to be on court, and everything is a learning process for me. I'm just super happy to be here.

Q. What do you make of your win for Chinese tennis, especially for the men, now that there were three in the main draw?

SHANG JUNCHENG: Yeah, I think it's huge for Chinese men's tennis. You know, we have had really good players from the women's side but not really big names in the men's.

So I think we are very lucky that I'm part of it, and I'm very lucky that I'm part of this team. Hopefully we can do something big in the future.

Q. Why do you think it took longer for the men in China to get to this level than the women?

SHANG JUNCHENG: It's a complicated thing. I think I'm not quite sure how to answer that, but I think physically it's a big step for us in the men's tennis. But I think, I mean, we're on the right track right now. Hopefully we can, like I said, we can do better job in the slams, in the three-out-of-five sets, and hopefully that can happen in the future.

Q. Obviously helps that the three of you are there together?

SHANG JUNCHENG: Yeah, I mean, those two other guys they are like brothers to me. Hopefully we can achieve it together and soon.

Q. Is there anything in particular you have taken from Dante who obviously has sort of been there and done that through this process of taking a big young star and helping him to the top?

SHANG JUNCHENG: Yeah, I mean, Dante, I'm very lucky to have him on my side. Yeah, I mean, his opinions means a lot to me. We often talk about how to play the game.

In the team, we all agreed that everything is mental, that everybody can play good tennis, and just having the positive mindset on the big moments can change the whole game.

Q. How did you feel mentally out there? You had the two match points that you saved, and obviously I'm sure you're dying for the win out there. Have you ever had a moment in your career where you lost your temper and lost your way in moments like that, or have you always been pretty calm?

SHANG JUNCHENG: I'd say in most of my matches I'm really calm. But tennis is a very frustrating game, and sometimes you can lose your temper too. That's something I've been working on in the last couple of months, try to stay calm and think positive things only. Because those negative things will just tear you up, and you'll lose the match quick if you're thinking about the bad things.

But again, in the match points, I wasn't thinking much. I was playing very aggressive in my service games and I was holding quite easy. So I was thinking worst case, you know, we play another tiebreak and if I lose in the tiebreak we go on to the fifth set.

Q. Which players did you look up to when you were younger? Who were your favorites?

SHANG JUNCHENG: Obviously the big three, you know: Roger, Rafa, Novak. They were inspirations to almost every kid that started playing tennis. Those three players are the people that I watched the most. I mean, they're passionate about tennis, not just how good they play, but they have amazing personalities, and how they act on court is just unbelievable.

Q. At this stage in your career, you talked about the mental composure, how do you manage that? How are you working on that?

SHANG JUNCHENG: I don't think it's something you can work on in one match. I think it comes from practicing and overall, you only have four, five hours of practice a day and even shorter in the matches.

I think that comes from when you're with the family, when you're with the team, how you act in life in general. It's very important to me. With my family, we try to work on that since I was very young, 11, 12 years old, so I think that's very important.