ROLAND GARROS

June 3, 2025

Zheng Qinwen

Press Conference

A. SABALENKA/Zheng Q.

7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Qinwen, a very, very tough battle out there today against two amazing players. Just give us your thoughts on the match today.

ZHENG QINWEN: I think it was a difficult match, and nothing more I could say. I did what I can do today, and that's it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It was so close. What do you think made the difference in the end?

ZHENG QINWEN: I think maybe during the match I should play a bit more aggressive, and I think in the first set I made a lot of, you know, easy mistake. I give her the chance so easy.

Of course, I think mostly I made a match lose. I think mostly it's on my hand because already I did some double fault in the first set when I'm leading with my service game.

But, yeah, it's tennis. There's nothing more I can do.

Q. I wanted to ask you about playing Sabalenka. She's so powerful. Have you ever played a player more powerful than her? Also, she grunts really loudly. Does that in any way get into your head?

ZHENG QINWEN: Not really. I think I'm just getting tight because it's the French Open quarterfinals. I think doesn't matter who I face. I will be really tight because I have so much hungry in French Open, and then I think this can make me performance even not best, and it's maybe not, I will say, today I don't even perform at 60, 70%.

When I hit with my sparring, they are men, so for sure they will hit harder than her, so for me it's not a problem. I wish that I could do better on court, and that's it.

Q. Do you feel the gap is closing, though? You obviously won a few weeks ago, and today was incredibly close, especially the first set, and you feel like you're not playing at your best. Does that give you encouragement?

ZHENG QINWEN: Well, you know, even a player not playing their best, they need to find a way to win, but maybe today I didn't find that way even when I'm not performance well.

I would just say this is good learning experience for me and wish next time I could do it better.

Q. Did you sense that you were trying to do different things in order to get the advantage in this match, or did you mainly just stick with the original game plan?

ZHENG QINWEN: I think my game plan went quite well, but it's just, you know, I get tight. Then I give so many easy mistake after when I'm leading in the first set. And that's it, because I think my game plan is working quite well. It's just I'm not able today to stick on to do it, my game plan, from the beginning until the end, because I just think sometimes I give her so many easy unforced errors, yeah.

Q. Also, in this tournament there has been some argument regarding scheduling of the matches. Normally females' match are scheduled in the beginning of the Chatrier. You know, it's been tough to get packed in that arena. It starts 11:00, but today the atmosphere was amazing. I don't know if you care about that kind of things, but do you have any opinion on that?

ZHENG QINWEN: I mean, I can't control what the tournament put men's first or girls first. What I can do is when I play at 11:00, I just go on the court, and that's it.

Yeah, there is nothing more I can do. Sorry.

Q. How do you feel about today's atmosphere?

ZHENG QINWEN: I always love to play in Roland Garros. Doesn't matter, yeah.