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SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS

October 10, 2011

Zhe Li

SHANGHAI, CHINA

F. VERDASCO/Z. Li
6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese, please.

Q. How do you take today's performance compared with your performance in Beijing two days ago? Has there been any improvement?
ZHE LI: First I think overall performance is all right. I've done my best. Maybe in terms of serving, I haven't been doing very well. First it's relatively darker already and first time for me to perform on this venue, the center court. It's still going to take a little time for me to get adjusted.
I think I'm doing a little better than I was in Beijing. Since I just came back from overseas to attend the Beijing tournament, I think overall I've been doing a lot better than I was in Beijing.

Q. All the other Chinese players have lost. Compared with your compatriots, what do you think you were missing against Verdasco?
ZHE LI: These top players, their strength, their speeds are all better, even in terms of the speed of the ball is also better than us. Their total physical strength is stronger than us. That's my evaluation.

Q. What do you think Verdasco's weaknesses and strengths are? How did you deal with these?
ZHE LI: His forehand is very good. His topspin is very tough for me to handle. It's very heavy and it jumped high this ball, so it gave me a very hard time.
His backhand is relatively weaker. That's what I was doing my best to attack. Generally I was reactionary because if I want to focus on his backhand, it was always me running back and forth. He was very active and I was passive.

Q. The top players, they're stronger and faster. What do you think of their total performance, their rhythm, the control they have over the pace?
ZHE LI: I think, well, in terms of that we lag behind reasonably big. It's more like a competition of both strength and wits, intelligence. My point of view, it's just capability. Most of the time it's the physical capability. They're stronger and they're faster so we couldn't play according to my comfortable pace, I couldn't play according to my comfortable rhythm.

Q. What is your mix of training and competition?
ZHE LI: It's basically half and half of the time I have. Like Davis Cup, national teams, winter training, they last longer which would affect my time at tournaments.
Sometimes the Chinese players have visa difficulties when they need to go and play overseas. If their visa is denied, they have nothing else except training.

Q. I noticed you were breathing heavily and deeply at the very beginning. Do you feel nervous at all? When did you feel more relaxed?
ZHE LI: In the first one or two games, yes, I was a little bit nervous. The reason I breathe hard and deeply was because of the competition. Later on it's mostly because of the competition instead of being nervous.

Q. In Beijing you played in doubles. I would like to ask if you're playing better in doubles now.
ZHE LI: I think I have made some improvement in doubles, yes. Lots of those doubles-only players who don't play as well as those who play singles most. Sometimes the singles players, they are better at serving, at receiving, at volleying. But doubles players, I think they are not always as good as those singles players.
The doubles players, sometimes they're not as fast as those top seeded in singles. There are relatively more opportunities for us Asian players.

Q. After this tournament, you will enter into an off period, is that so?
ZHE LI: No, because after the Nanjing championships I will head directly to Thailand and then Australia because there are four more tournaments to play.

Q. Since you are relatively on a lower level, it doesn't mean you are on a less intensive pace exactly. Does that exhaust you?
ZHE LI: Yes, I feel exhausted more or less. What I can do is just try to maximize any time I have to relax and to get back to my best shape.
A lot of the international players, they use at least one to two weeks to take a break, to relax, to have completely free time. But it's very hard for Chinese players to have that. Sometimes Chinese players only have two or three days off.

Q. Do you think you can totally recover from that? Does that mean you have never fully recuperated?
ZHE LI: Yeah, basically more or less like that.

Q. We have interviewed a number of Chinese coaches and they have commented on some Chinese players. They think Chinese players are milder. They behave, so to speak. Does it mean it will lower down your aggressiveness when you're on the court? As a Chinese player, what is your take on that?
ZHE LI: Well, I think this is a good tradition for the Chinese. But certainly the players should show a little bit of aggressiveness on the court. We are trying to learn from our international colleagues and learn from their strengths.

Q. Do you think you could learn from their personalities?
ZHE LI: Anything we could try to learn. Their strengths should be learned. It's for our own benefit.

Q. You said you felt the gap between you and top-seeded players. We have talked about the gaps a lot. Do you have some methods or ways to catch up? Do you think intensive competition can help?
ZHE LI: My personal view is as follows. Our generation is doing our best to catch up, to narrow the gap, but lots of things need to be done starting from a very young age of those players.
I started playing at the end of 1990s and early 21st century. Chinese tennis still didn't receive too much attention. My generation, we don't enjoy a very good time because of lack of tennis coach, not like table tennis in China.
We hope that future generations, after we retire, as we become the coaches, we could share with the later generations things, good things, good experiences so that they could catch up earlier, they could participate in this professional career earlier so they could catch up maybe.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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