CHINA OPEN

September 29, 2024

Bu Yunchaokete

Press Conference

BUYUNCHAOKETE/L. Musetti

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. You jumped out to a 4-1 lead early in the second set before Musetti broke you twice. After losing the momentum, how did you adjust to take the final two games?

BUYUNCHAOKETE: I mean, 4-1, I play really bad. I start lose my focus and he starting to some trick shots. I mean, he doing good. He like to do it, something slice, dropshot.

Most important thing is my serve percentage going low, first serve very bad. In the baseline, I lose little bit patient. I couldn't really calm down. I was little bit hurry.

I'm really happy when the score is coming 4-All I start remember first one I have the same position, same. I just push myself. I'm real happy I make that, so yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese.

Q. You are the only Chinese men's singles player left. Can you share with us comments about your momentum.

BUYUNCHAOKETE: I don't feel any pressure because I've been doing a lot these past days. I didn't even have time for social media or following other news. I was 100% focused on myself, my team.

I did not have too many thoughts for the other things happening. I don't know my next round opponent yet. Let's see what's next.

Q. I see your schedule has been really packed the past two months, challenger events, the US, Davis Cup, Hangzhou, Beijing. Jerry has been talking about injuries. How do you adjust yourself physically?

BUYUNCHAOKETE: Of course, people have been a little bit rusty. I wasn't doing that well in the past few days. A little bit concerned with my health as well as my body.

I've seen some issues with my body this week. So to me, to my team, we were a little bit worried during the week. One day before the match, I canceled my training with Zhang Zhizhen, other training sessions, because of some physical issues.

I'm happy without two days of adjustment, without intense training, I'm back to normal. Things are on a very positive trend. I may not be 100% physically, but I'm happy with the results so far.

Q. Watching the matches this summer, you've been rolling up your sleeves. When did you start to have this habit? Will it continue?

BUYUNCHAOKETE: Oh, yes, after the challenger event in Korea, then back to Guangzhou, I was really sweaty. When I get more sweaty, it becomes kind of challenging for me to move my arms around. I started to roll up my sleeves. I think it actually helped. This is something I would like to continue.

Q. Would you actually suggest to your sponsor to have a sleeveless shirt for you?

BUYUNCHAOKETE: I actually prefer it to have sleeves (smiling).

Q. With Li Zhe joining your team, has that helped your performance?

BUYUNCHAOKETE: I think he has done very well bringing me positive energy every day, really good, positive feedback every day, telling me what to improve. He really works well with other team members. Li Zhe complements my team very well. So far it has been really positive.

Q. The past two weeks on the tour, what do you think is the thing that you need to improve most?

BUYUNCHAOKETE: I think playing against top-10, top-20 players, I don't see a large difference when you're playing just one set or two. When it goes longer, I see my level drop, like what I see today. The past two weeks, the US Open, it was very similar.

I need to raise my level and keep it consistent for a longer period of time, for example, two and a half, three hours, even four hours. That would be something I need to improve in the future.

Of course, some of the details, for example, my serves, my backhand, forehand, this is something I need to improve, too.

Q. Your style of tennis is much more aggressive, especially your forehand, compared to your junior years. Can you talk about the changes.

BUYUNCHAOKETE: This is a really good question. In the past, I had enough to compete against others. Now at this level, I need something extra, some improvement to have a breakthrough in order to get this win.

Because of this pressure, I was willing to try more, to be more adventurous. When I was a kid, a junior, I did not have the chance to meet with aggressive players. I was only watching videos. But watching the videos is completely different from playing live. Reading the book is completely different than playing a live player.

Now I need more imagination, I need the power to help me break through. I'm within the circle in the past two years. This is the biggest change I have made.

Q. Obviously in these past two matches you have had really good serves, good power. You have been serving very well. Once the level drops in your serve, how do you adjust?

BUYUNCHAOKETE: Well, first of all, I haven't served well in the past two matches. I think you asked me the same question yesterday. Today was very similar to two days ago. The last two points I was serving well, but before that I wasn't serving that good.

Well, based on my own standards - I don't think my service game in the whole match was broken once or twice - I wasn't serving well. There was something wrong with my serve or my movement for these two matches. I was able to break my opponent twice, then I was broken again, then I was up again.

I wasn't serving well in the match. I wasn't serving well. That's my conclusion for these two matches.

Q. You are a new player on the ATP Tour. New experiences for you on the ATP Tour. With consecutive wins, more people recognize you, more people will congratulate you, more players will train with you. That would help accelerate your integration into the ATP Tour.

BUYUNCHAOKETE: Yes, especially with the ATP players I played with in Spain. They came to me to congratulate me. Those players I didn't recognize or really know would also come to me.

These things aside, I need to focus on myself because I really need to take advantage of the confidence level, my level of play, to do the things well. Once you have this level of play, you cannot really drop your level.

It's a really good opportunity to do that here.

Q. Your preparation, your schedule, daily routine, in the past two months you've had many matches. You were able to get the win despite having lower form. Did you reflect on any changes you have made, or you couldn't think of something, something special, it just came naturally to you?

BUYUNCHAOKETE: I think it mostly comes down to what you have done, your experiences in the past. I've done my training well. You probably don't do it in the past, but now I've come to see the positive results. It's something really intricate.

Probably at the time you do not believe in yourself. In the past two weeks, I really believe in myself. That kind of belief translates into something substantial. I do not have questions. Even though I wasn't playing at my 100%, I was focusing on myself.

Q. You talked about your coach Li Zhe, as well as the other coaches being complementary. How do they split up the work on your team?

BUYUNCHAOKETE: Mr. Yu is on the team of Zhe Jiang. He also takes cares of the girls in the Zhe Jiang team because some of the players are playing in Guizhou province, some other provinces. He doesn't have enough time to focus on my schedule.

But Li Zhe will be able to do that, so that's complementary. Technically, of course, Mr. Yu would be more familiar. Hu Ge played with me, we've played doubles together. So both Mr. Yu and Li Zhe understand my style of tennis. This is really straightforward because they can see things from my perspective, think of a plan from my perspective. That will streamline everything. It makes my preparation more efficient.

This is why I'm feeling comfortable. I will be able to resolve issues very quickly.

Q. Talk about your collaboration with Alcaraz and Ferrero. Ferrero watched some of your previous match.

BUYUNCHAOKETE: That was funny. He actually asked me to warm up together at 12:00. My match started at 11:00. The day before that it was 5:00. He asked me to practice together, but I wasn't feeling that well that day, so I did not do it. I said that we will see in the coming few days.

Then the next day he did not notice that my match was starting at 11:00. In the locker room, I really had interesting conversations with Alcaraz. He said that we can practice and train together probably in Shanghai in the coming few days.

I think he came during my third set. I wasn't doing that well during my third set (smiling). But that's no problem. After the match, I did not have a chance to talk to him. He will probably give me some advice when I meet him again.