	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

SHANGHAI ATP MASTERS 1000

October 12, 2009

Mao-Xin Gong

SHANGHAI, CHINA

M. SAFIN/M. Gong
6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese, please.

Q. Good evening. You lost this match, but just now Safin compared you to Federer in terms of your characteristics in the match. And so what's your view on your gap with Safin in this match?
MAO-XIN GONG: I think it lies with my master of the key plays or the key scores. And also, I cannot keep a steady state of shape compared with the top players.

Q. So most of the audience come for Safin, but you still received big applause from the audience. Did you notice that?
MAO-XIN GONG: Yes.

Q. Shao-Xuan Zeng mentioned Chinese have lack of opportunities to play with top players, and the ATP Masters 1000 will become a regular match. What role will it play to promote the performance of Chinese players?
MAO-XIN GONG: I think by playing with the top players we can get more confidence and find our gap with the top players.

Q. What are the biggest barriers to the development of Chinese players?
MAO-XIN GONG: I think in the match we still need to improve our ability to be stronger in the key scores and also in our play with the bigger players.

Q. Safin is going to retire, so this may be your last match with Safin. So what is his biggest impression on you?
MAO-XIN GONG: I think that this is a great honor for me to have this opportunity to play with Safin before he retires.

Q. I have two questions. The first question, in such a stadium, you played with a top player and did you feel nervous?
MAO-XIN GONG: Yes, I felt nervous at the very beginning. I never played in the center court, so I was a little bit nervous.

Q. The second question: How did you score your performance?
MAO-XIN GONG: I score 8. I think that I could have played better. For example, in some key scores, I should not have lost so outrageously during the last two scores.

Q. Yesterday Shao-Xuan mentioned that even though we lose, we should not lose too embarrassingly. I think you really did have some audience cheer for you, so how did you feel?
MAO-XIN GONG: I felt strong drive from them, so in the match I didn't think that match I focused all on the match itself.

Q. So before the beginning of the match, you practiced with Shao-Xuan Zeng. What experience did he share with you?
MAO-XIN GONG: Basically I think that what we discussed was that we have to play more relaxed.

Q. So you two were very close at the very beginning, and then you got one serve break. How did you feel at that time?
MAO-XIN GONG: So basically my first-serve points started to drop at that time, so I didn't keep my good shape when I playing with a top player.

Q. You were not known to many people, and for example, when did you start to play and how many tournaments have you joined?
MAO-XIN GONG: I started to play at age of 8, and during the past two years I joined China Open and I played the doubles and also most of the time I played in the futures.

Q. (In English) We see China dominating other sports like badminton and table tennis, the best in the world. What's the future for Chinese tennis? Can you one day be dominating in that sport?
MAO-XIN GONG: I think that that will happen in the coming two years, in the coming one or two years.

Q. (In English) Is that with the female tennis or the male tennis?
MAO-XIN GONG: I hope that it's male tennis players.

Q. In the second set, I noticed that Safin dropped his racquet, so he was famous for throwing his racquet. Did you notice that?
MAO-XIN GONG: At that time I was basically busy with wiping out sweat from myself. I didn't notice that detail.

Q. I noticed that in the second set, for example, you once argued with the chair umpire. What did you talk about with the chair umpire?
MAO-XIN GONG: So I told the umpire that at that time, he shouted out first.
Later he said that that was in.

Q. When do you think that you can join Grand Slam tournament?
MAO-XIN GONG: I don't know. I hope that that will happen in the coming one or two years.

Q. Shao-Xuan Zeng basically created his best rank this year. That happened last week. Still he played most of his time in futures. For the Chinese male players to advance, to join challengers or better tournaments, what do Chinese male players need to do in addition to getting wildcards?
MAO-XIN GONG: I think that we spend most of the time in futures, so we get higher ranking, maybe we can start to play in challengers.

Q. So whether Chinese national team will have such a plan?
MAO-XIN GONG: So basically if you don't have enough rank, you can only play in the prequalification matches in the challengers. That's not good enough. You need to get enough ranking.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297