CHINA OPEN

October 4, 2024

Zheng Qinwen

Press Conference

ZHENG QINWEN/M. Andreeva

5-7, 6-0, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Zheng Qinwen, congratulations. Into your first China Open semifinal. Can you give us your thoughts today on the performance.

ZHENG QINWEN: I'm really happy to be in the semifinal in China Open. Actually I felt today I didn't play the tennis I want to play. But I'm just happy to won the match. Hopefully the next match I feel much better.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What does it mean for you to make the final four at China Open? Does it mean the same as if it happened anywhere else or is it more significant being at home?

ZHENG QINWEN: Well, there is always extra motivation to play in China because I know all the crowd, they are coming for me, they support me a lot.

What did you say about the final?

Q. Semifinal.

ZHENG QINWEN: Yeah, I'm just happy to be in the semifinal. Today in the match, there were lot of up and downs. I'm just happy they were there supporting me.

I feel if it's not in China Open, this match could be more trickier than that, yeah (smiling).

Q. Were you aware that Mirra was crying, was in tears in the third set?

ZHENG QINWEN: Who was crying?

Q. Your opponent. She had tears in her eyes in the third set.

ZHENG QINWEN: I don't know. I haven't pay attention to my opponent 'cause I just like mostly focus on myself because I feel today I play so bad tennis. I just feel I play like 20% to 30% of my level. I feel if I could play better, match will finish faster than that.

Actually, I cry thousand times every time when I had a chance, like in 5-4 I didn't take my game. Starting third set slow, yeah.

But I think I could see a bit maybe she got some pain in her body. I'm not sure. Or maybe she's just tired. I remember the moment when I'm tired in French Open, I cry also, yeah. But usually I don't cry during the match, I cry after the match.

Q. Back to the third set when you went on the four-game winning streak to close out of match. You were showing your emotion, pumping your fists, telling yourself stuff. What was in your head as you started that winning streak?

ZHENG QINWEN: I feel more energy when I start to scream c'mon instead of letting my emotion close inside. At the beginning of the match I'm trying to be more calmer, trying to be more gentle with the opponent because I know she's more younger. But after what I see with my tennis today, I say, I'm not going to win today by my tennis, I'm going to win today by my mentality.

At the end of the third set, there no a lot up and down. 0-2 down, 0-4 down. Really a roller coaster match for me. After I show all the emotions, I just feel more energy, more pumped up compared to the first set and the second set.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese.

Q. You said you wanted to invite Zhang Yufei. Was she here? Would you invite other guests?

ZHENG QINWEN: I was surprised that she was here. After shaking her hand, I gave her a hug. I don't usually give people hugs. On the tour, I don't usually give people hugs. I see my hugs as very precious. So I treat Yufei as a true friend.

We have a lot of things in common. We share positive energy together. I really appreciate this friend. Very happy she was here today to do the coin toss.

I look forward to more opportunities meeting her off court.

Q. In previous interviews you said during the National Day holiday, Spring, Festival, you are jealous that other people can have days off where you have matches. In this holiday atmosphere, what kind of impact do you feel? In the first two sets you were down sometimes. Your opponent showed some negative gestures. Was that having any impact on you?

ZHENG QINWEN: Of course, I'm jealous other people can have days off because this year I did not have days off. But when I'm on court, I'm really happy because I have the chance to compete. It represents that you have been winning, you have good physical conditioning. This is a good chance for me.

When I was on court, I saw my opponent showing some negative feelings. She wasn't feeling that well, I felt like. But she was playing okay. Many times for me, I played matches in pain. It wasn't something unusual.

During the Olympics, I feel like my body was breaking down. When I was in the French Open, I was also playing matches with injuries. This is something we have to get used to as professional athletes.

Q. Can you talk about your change in mentality.

ZHENG QINWEN: When we first started, the opponent started slower. I was still thinking about my match with Anisimova, because that was a very quick match. I wasn't able to really use her power at the beginning. I wasn't playing that well. I wonder why I played at this level. But the whole match, it was under my control.

Whether I can win this match really depends on how I play it. I'm really happy that I could win this match with such low form. It shows the big difference compared to previous matches. I did not expect it to be such a tough match. Not very friendly to the crowd today (smiling).

Q. You talked about your friendship with Zhang Yufei. She said she wanted to spend a few months in the mountains after the Olympics. What is your preferred holiday?

ZHENG QINWEN: I don't mind spending a few months in the mountains with her, or we can be by the ocean for a few weeks so we can calm down, we can get perspective. I think this will actually enhance our performance. I would really look forward to a holiday trip with her.

Q. What are your comments on your first-serve percentage? Like you said, not very good.

ZHENG QINWEN: If I had a higher first-serve percentage, the scores would not be like this. At 5-4, when I was serving for the set, I wasn't really able to raise my level. We are seeing these scores because I was very slow starting off this match. In the third set, in my service games, I wasn't able to hold my serve.

There were good things about this match, but there are so many things I need to improve after this match.

Q. You talked about previous matches. You always reflect on things you can improve on. After each match, even though we saw some ups and downs, there were also changes, for example, improvement on certain points. How do you reflect on each match? What do you do actually?

ZHENG QINWEN: I really need to control my views on the shortcomings because you'll never be perfect. You are always correcting or criticizing yourself. Why am I not serving so well? Why am I not playing more aggressively? This is very normal because when you ask the top players, nobody can play perfectly in every match.

But winning a match when you are not perfect is very important. Thank you.