ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS

October 2, 2024

Wu Yibing

Press Conference

WU YIBING/S. Nagal

6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference of Wu Yibing. We will do English questions first and then move to Chinese.

First of all, congratulations. This is your first tour-level victory after US Open last year, and your first victory here since 2018.

WU YIBING: Really? I don't even know.

THE MODERATOR: And you're also the lowest-ranked player to have a major match win here in tournament history. How do you feel about your victory today?

WU YIBING: Very good to make new history again, yeah (laughing.) I didn't know, until he says, I didn't know I didn't win any tour-level match since US Open last year, which you are right, because I didn't play much.

Of course, very good to be back here, and when I wait for the entry of the match, I was thinking about, like, five, six years ago I was here as a kid, as like a challenger to fight through my junior career to ATP-level match, which I have done it pretty well. Healthy-wise, I'm not doing good too much.

Really good to win today at center court, and especially during national holidays, everybody came here and supported us. Very good. I feel good.

Q. Firstly, congratulations on your win today. I was wondering, could you talk a little bit about your start in tennis, how you got started in tennis?

WU YIBING: How I started tennis? I was a little fatty guy, like fatty kid when I'm little. I tried sports to lose a little bit of weight. I was a little bit overweight than my same age kids. My father, he's a boxer, so he knows a little bit how sports work. He knew some guys from our city that take me there, and we found out tennis is a great sport, which fits my height at that time.

I think by that time normally kids went to table tennis or badminton, because that's really the best sports at that time we had, even now. So, it was a little bit of a coincidence that I chose tennis, but it seems like it's working out.

Q. You mentioned that you watched this tournament when you were younger. Did you have a favorite player that you watched?

WU YIBING: Marcos Baghdatis (laughing), which, he didn't play, actually, that year, because my first time ever watch tennis match live was here. I think it was 2005 or 2006, the year when Nalbandian won his finals here. I think that year Marcos, he didn't come. I still have that poster which I got from here when I came to watch. He was on the poster, and I have it still in my old home where we leave the shoes.

So, it's a miracle which, he's not my favorite player (laughing), and now he became my coach, with a lot of experience. He really helped me a lot during the time which I'm hurting, even though I cannot really play much tennis during the time I hurt, but he's always there trying to help. Yeah, I think he's really great, like, try to helping me. I went to Cyprus for a couple weeks and met his family, his wife and kids, so I would like to thank him for not giving me up during all this shitty times (laughing).

Q. So you've been working with him for the past year?

WU YIBING: Yeah, I knew him from China Open, and, of course, he won there also. He's been killing it here in China, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese, please.

Q. Congratulations on the win. You mentioned that you had an injury on the foot, is this condition thoroughly resolved, are you fully recovered, and then before you are fully recovered what methods did you try to solve that issue?

WU YIBING: I met some acute health issues. What we are doing now is to make full preparations to try to prevent injuries from happening, we can't have 100 percent guarantee, but whatever happened, we try to tackle it. I don't want to talk too much about my injuries. After all, I am a tennis player, I think I need a good physical condition, physical fitness to support my tennis. My team is also giving me a lot of help. We are trying to see what we can do.

Q. Among the Chinese male players you experienced the most ups and downs, so over the past few years what made you persevere to today, and looking back, what's your feeling?

WU YIBING: Indeed, it seems that I have experienced more setbacks than other of my peers, but I didn't think too much about that. I am thinking about why I can't play tennis like others, you know, going to matches every week, but I'm sure that we will find a way out. My team and I are trying, but all of us, all of the people around me, my team, my family, and myself are fully confident.

As a player, I think I do need to strengthen my body physically. This is a pretty successful period for the Chinese male players, tennis male players. I wrote F5 on the camera just now. F5, in the world of computer, means renew. I hope that all our players can renew our records and our performance, and do better all the time.

Q. Before you, Bu had a press conference, so I want to ask a similar question.

WU YIBING: I smelled him (laughing.)

Q. We talked about the successful period for Chinese male tennis players. What do you think are the reasons for that?

WU YIBING: We are making some breakthroughs and many people are supporting us and paying attention to performance, but I think we should not just focus on what we are doing now. I think this is related to our predecessors, some of them changed to become coaches, so they are summarizing their lessons and experiences, and passing them down to our generation.

We're benefiting from the previous generation of Chinese players so that we can grow in matches, in challenger events, and we know more clearly what's our strategy to play good tennis. With this tradition, I think it's destined that we are going to do better. We get the chance to play with a lot of cheers and support from fans, and also some wild cards when we are playing on the home soil, but then when we go to another country, it's a different situation. Sometimes we experience scenarios when there might be a lack of respect. These are all experiences for us, and then we also need to be physically well.

Q. The moderator talked about your history, but you are also the lowest-ranked player to get the win.

WU YIBING: (Clapping.)

Q. To get the win in the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Well, a lot of questions about your health condition, and you used to have a higher ranking than Zhang Zhizhen, and you are also the first player to win a Masters 250, so I just want to know, how can you be yourself all the time?

WU YIBING: I think I am already past the period to think too much about what you described. Five to six years ago I always asked myself the question, Am I fully prepared, am I ready to stand in such a grand court as a tennis player, but I'm no longer thinking about that.

I know myself. It's just because of some other reasons that I cannot stand shoulder by shoulder with some of my other peer players. I know I want to focus on myself, because ultimately everyone has a different path to reach their goal. Also, all players, not just players in China, but also players in other countries experience setbacks and ups and downs all the time, so these stories tell us that we need to cherish this opportunity of being able to play on the court.

I just want to focus on all the training, practices, and each match, and I want to be myself and play my tennis.

Q. I think you are very humorous in the press conferences. Do you think that you use humor as a way of protecting yourself and guiding yourself from negative feelings?

WU YIBING: Yes, as you said, well, sometimes I do not know what to say in some social conditions, so I'll try to be funny and humorous. I don't think I'm that humorous (smiling), but I try to be happy. I try to make others happy.

Of course, I am the one standing on the court. However, my team and all the spectators, the fans, I can feel the expectations from so many people around me, so I want to make them happy. It has nothing to do with me being humorous or not, but one thing is for sure, I don't want to be negative. We need to release negative feelings, so perhaps what you described is one of the ways for me to get rid of the negative feelings. I think this is natural.

Today I found it funny that I, well, somebody else thought that I am Japanese. The other day, when I checked out from the hotel, and I didn't have time to have lunch, I ordered a takeout, and then I found a funny sign, so I post it on the social network, trying to give myself some good positive feelings.