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TEB BNP PARIBAS WTA CHAMPIONSHIPSOctober 23, 2013Na LiISTANBUL, TURKEY N. LI/S. Errani THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You were down 3‑1 in the second set and 2‑0 in the tiebreaker, but you were able to come out on top and finally win again. Is the second set kind of the evidence of, would you say, better control of yourself? NA LI: I mean, doesn't matter how is the score. It's the set you count. Both players have chance. Is nothing like have 3‑1 or 4‑1 down or up. You still have to keep going. Q. Were you happy with how you played in the end? Were you happy with your performance tonight? NA LI: At least I win the match, right? Good result. The first match always tight, because, you know, how you gonna play on the court. Like today I have very clear game plan, but when the ball come to my side, I still feel a little bit struggling, because I think after China Open I have, I don't know, three weeks, one month, I didn't play any tournament. I still have to find the rhythm on the court. Q. It seems like you were attacking, though, consistently. You know she's going to bring a lot of balls back. Talk about there is sort of a line between attacking but not being too crazy with how you play her. NA LI: All I can say I have a lot of confidence when I always play against her because I never lose her, but today I was a little bit surprised, because I have almost like over one year I didn't play against her for the match. I was feeling now she's, how do you say, the ball is not like before. Always like short but now it's more heavier. So sometimes I have to, I don't know, even I'm not so tall enough. I mean, I have to hit over the shoulder, you know. Yeah, even I already have before say, okay, for sure you have to play a lot of, how do you say, a lot of shots for one point.  But today still feeling like a little bit ‑‑how you say? End of the second set, I still feeling a little bit like I really want to finish the match; otherwise I don't know how it's going in the three sets. Q. So you're up 5‑3, you had a match point there, you missed a forehand and then you were serving for the match. She had a bunch of breakpoints, you got some back, and you got broken again. Was that nerves there for a while? NA LI: It's not about the nervous. Of course after you got match point and you lose the point, you feeling like ‑‑I think about if I win the point, the match is over. I don't have to run anymore, you know. (Smiling). So, yeah, but I think this is my problem. When the point is over, I still thinking about what happened in this point. I'm not focus what I should do. Q. You said before I think in another profile piece, New York Times, that you get down on yourself historically. Sometimes something goes wrong in the match, and you start to get negative and that Carlos has helped you a lot with that. What do you tell yourself in a situation like that where you had a match point and you missed it? How are you staying positive nowadays? NA LI: After I lose the match point, and I was like, okay, is okay, still 5‑4, you still serve for the match. So even 5‑All, you still have one set in your pocket, you know. So of course something coming, you have to take it. Like before, I always against. So I think this why this year I improve a lot. Q. This is only your first match here, and then you'll have a bunch in a row, but do you like the compact format here or do you think it will be better next year with more days and rest in between and eight doubles teams? NA LI: Well, I think I have to focus on now, right? Because even next year I don't know what happen. Maybe I cannot play? You never know. So I just enjoy this moment. If far, I don't know if, how you say, if I can stay same level until end of the next year or maybe I'm going to retire (smiling). Q. Let's hope not. But do you mind the rhythm of mostly playing every day? Is that a good rhythm? Or you prefer days off in between? NA LI: Actually, I prefer Grand Slam, you know, like play one day, day off, and play another day. But this is schedule. You have follow. Yeah. Q. Speaking of schedule, do you think that this time the schedule is a little tight for you because you get a rest for yesterday but you probably have to play two, three, or four or five days in a row? NA LI: I have same schedule for three years. I mean, I always have day off in the first day and then play three days in a row. So I think I have used to do that. Q. Do you think it's unfair on your side because of three years in a row you played three days... NA LI: I mean, something I cannot change. I have to follow. Q. The Championships are a very difficult type of tournament and very different, right, the round robin and everything? What's the most difficult thing about playing this tournament now that you've played it multiple times? NA LI: I mean, because this tournament is last tournament of the year, you know, in my mind, I already think about ‑‑I already think about vacation, but I'm still on the court.  So I have to, how you say, I have to focus on the match and my mind still think about where I be on vacation. It's very, how you say, it's very tough but same time is very relax. Yeah. Q. Is it mostly the mental aspect is the most difficult aspect for you of playing the year‑ends? NA LI: It's not ‑‑how you say? Exciting, relax, and focus. I don't know how to prepare for that. Q. You have been working on your net game all year, a little serve and volley, coming in, but it still doesn't seem like you're totally comfortable there. Does it feel like home, or does it feel like you went to a hotel and your key didn't work and you're foreign to the place? NA LI: But I was feeling now it's much, much more confident than before. So I will try to continue to do that. Because if I didn't try I cannot feeling. So if I try, know exactly what I should do even more. Because I always stay on the tour so many years, I think everyone know what NA LI play looks like. So I have to change a little bit to prove myself. Q. When you took your time off and you were a journalism student, do you remember any stories, what you wrote about? NA LI: A lot. Q. Like? Politics? Economics? NA LI: Like history for China. Because I was ‑‑most was history of China, you know. I was have two years exactly stay in the university, but after two years, because I was come back to the tour, so if I have time I go back to university to testing or to... Yeah. Q. So did you find it boring or did you find it too hard and that's why you came back to the tour? NA LI: When I decide back to the tour, I was thinking about one‑and‑half month, yeah, because, how you say, when I was retire I was No. 1 in China, but after thinking about if I was come back, if you didn't doing well, what happen? If you're doing well, it's another story. So, yeah, I have to think about I really want come back or, like... Yeah. Q. You mentioned your vacation coming up. What are your vacation plans? NA LI: Secret. (Smiling). Q. Big? Small? NA LI: Time? Q. Your plans. Like is it sort of a big adventure or just something small and quiet? NA LI: You know, actually, I was plan vacation last year, but this year I have to follow my husband. (Tsk). Q. It's his decision where you go? NA LI: Yeah, he will decide where we go, so... Q. Going back to the serving and volleying, your prior coaches, did they try and get you to go to the net more, or is it just because Carlos and his reputation as a coach, now that he's telling you, now you buy into it? It seems like you're very committed to changing your game now. So why not before? NA LI: Before the coaches say, they never try to ask me to do serve/volley. Never. So that's why when Carlos say, Oh, you should do serve/volley, I talk to my husband and I say, This guy is crazy. I mean, I was stay on baseline for 20 years. How he can change my mind? I think it was good. After I try, I was feeling you can do even more better. Before because no coach ask me, they just try to say, Oh, you have very good baseline, so maybe you can try come to the net. But not like Carlos. He always say, You have to do. Like, You have to show me. I was like, Okay. Yeah. Q. As a former journalist student, you now travel the world and you see the world's journalism. Do you read the newspapers wherever you go? Do you see the difference in the newspapers wherever you go? NA LI: You know, actually it's tough for me to read English newspaper. So the funny thing is when I was finished at university I never read the newspaper because I can find so many mistake. Yeah. But before I come to university, I was read the newspaper a lot. Q. In Chinese? NA LI: In Chinese. Q. And now you get your news from the Internet, do you, in Chinese? When you want to read about things other than what's going on on the tennis tour, you read on the Internet? NA LI: We can read Internet. Don't have to read newspaper. Internet you can get more information. Q. That's what I said. You read a Chinese site on the Internet? NA LI: Not only Chinese. I will also, like, how you say, Google or something. They can find so many things all of the China. Q. Keeping on the journalism theme, did you ever write about sports when you were a journalism student? NA LI: Yeah. Q. You did? NA LI: Yes. Q. Which sports? NA LI: Any sport. Q. Any sport? NA LI: Yeah. Q. Tennis? NA LI: Of course tennis, more, how you say, because I know the tennis. I didn't really know a lot of sports, so if the journalist write something, I can see clearly it's wrong or it's right. Q. When you finish playing tennis, do you have any desire to return to journalism? Would you like to be a journalist after your tennis career? NA LI: No. I want to be housewife (smiling). Yeah. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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