CHINA OPEN

September 26, 2025

Zhang Shuai

Press Conference

ZHANG SHUAI/Wang Xinyu

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the post match press conference of Zhang Shuai. Questions in English.

Q. Can you talk about the match today, what you think you did well? Wang Xinyu said she felt under a lot of pressure the way you were playing. What was your tactic going into the match? How happy are you to get the win?

ZHANG SHUAI: She says she has a lot of pressure?

Q. In the match, you put pressure on her.

ZHANG SHUAI: Okay, yeah. We talk about our match in Shenzhen, Billie Jean King Cup. Last couple times singles, doubles, I never beat her. She won all the time. I say, You play so good. Every time after the match I say, You play so good..

She said, Because I play against you, I have no pressure.

I'm much older than her. When I know her, she just born, so... She feel I play so good. But I say, You play so good.

Yeah, I mean, on this court, this tournament, I play really well every year. I don't know. I mean, I just very be natural. I didn't thinking too much. I just do whatever I want. I just do the right thing. Everything is going to on right way.

I mean, this court, this ball, my technique, my tennis, they very connecting I think very well. Sometimes other tournament, other court, other balls, you try to do same thing, but everything is mistake.

When I play many, many years after, I try to understand sometimes when I play very bad, bad day or bad tournament, sometimes not my fault. I tell my coach, my team, Not my fault, maybe because it's something happen. I don't know. When I'm in China Open or in Tokyo, Osaka, Guangzhou, I just go there, I play so well. I don't know why.

You have to understand sometimes some tournaments, some countries, some city you play everything not well. We have to try best every day. You have to know the results sometimes you can't control.

Q. A question about the tournament itself. A lot of players have nice things to say about the China Open, how it's improved. As a Chinese player who played this event a lot, home event, it must bring a lot of pride to have such a nice tournament for all your friends to come and be impressed.

ZHANG SHUAI: Yeah, for me, China Open is the best tournament. Everything I feel, like, so easy. The food I like, because I love Chinese food. Some tournament, I mean, every tournament, they try best. Something you really like, but every tournament they try best.

But China Open, everything they did I like. They trying really hard. Also they ask me, coach, other players, we talking about anything to improve. They going to some other tournament to see something they did great job, then they try to be better and better. Not only every year, they try to be better every day.

When you really working hard, you want to be better, you can be better. Like player play tennis, I try to be better and better every day. I can see every day I have a lot improve.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Chinese.

Q. Your head-to-head with Xinyu, she was leading. Now playing her again tonight, mentally was it a burden? How did you prepare for this match?

ZHANG SHUAI: I lost to her in previous matches. I never won. To me, there was nothing to be nervous about. No matter who I am playing, singles, doubles, mixed doubles, I do not feel pressure anymore because every day I ask myself, What do you want more? It's been 31 years since I was five years old. You have accomplished all your dreams. If you do not enjoy tennis today, I will be a very sad person.

I would like to be a happy person. I would like to enjoy tennis, enjoy the pleasure of tennis, be it victory or defeat. I will always learn something from each event.

There's nothing special about this match because last week Xinyu played Paolini. It was a very tough match. She wasn't in a really good position tonight. I saw she had injuries tonight.

I had a really tough first round. I was able to loosen up after the first round. This was actually her first match in the China Open on the center court. I'm sure she was feeling the stress and pressure from the home crowd.

Of course she would need some time to get used to it. Sometimes you know the victory of a match depends on many factors. The results might be completely different if there's one factor that is different.

I hope that she can adjust as quick as possible. Like what I said to her last week in Shenzhen, Each failure, each loss will help you get one step closer to victory.

At such a young age, she has accomplished so much - more than what we have done. So I hope that she can come out of this loss quickly to adjust her physical condition so that she can be in Wuhan in a better position.

Q. Anisimova will be your next opponent. Seven years ago you played her. What kind of preparation will you do? What's your understanding of her?

ZHANG SHUAI: I don't even know who my opponent is in the next round. I didn't give too much thought to it. I think she's a genius girl. When she was playing in Miami, she was an IMG-sponsored player. She was very young. She was already very talented. I was really inspired when I saw her.

She then went through a lot of ups and downs. Then I saw her come back. From the bottom of my heart, I feel really happy for her because on the tour we need an example like this. She can play tennis in a very beautiful way. I think the WTA really needs a player like this.

I now face opponents much younger than me. Every one of them is much younger than me. I try to learn their advanced techniques. I will try to enjoy the match as much as possible in the next round.

Q. Social media people are counting the points for you, when would you qualify for the qualifications in the Australian Open or if you can skip the qualifications. What are your thoughts?

ZHANG SHUAI: Well, to me, I do not care about my rankings and points anymore. That's why I can be so relaxed on court. I don't even pay attention to how much money I get. That helps me to focus on each point, each moment on court.

Only by doing so can I play better. I am past the age every day when I have to look at the points or the money I got. I think in a previous tournament, in Kyiv, it was about $100,000. I was playing a player from Thailand in the final. If she won, she would be in the top 100 for the first time, then she will qualify in the main draw of Wimbledon. It was a match of high stakes for her.

She was definitely under a lot of stress. If she won, she would be in the top 100 for Wimbledon. This is a big difference for her. But then at the time I wasn't feeling any pressure. I wasn't going to lose any chances because win or lose for me, there wasn't much difference in terms of the money or the points. I thought those days were great. I would like to have these days as many as possible.

I don't want so much burden. In tennis or life, I need to reduce burdens. These burdens are unnecessary. That's why I feel today I do have a true sense of freedom. I can relax. I do not put too many thoughts into it.

Q. Can you talk more about the match tonight. Any comments on your current level of play can you share with us your thoughts on the atmosphere tonight.

ZHANG SHUAI: I think there were many more fans tonight than the previous round. At least more than half of them were coming for Xinyu. I was really enjoying the whole thing.

Tennis brings true happiness to me because for a long time it was a painful career for me. I'm really happy that I can find true happiness in tennis. I have the motivation and reason to continue my career.

Your first question was regarding this match tonight. I think it's more or less similar to my daily training. The level of play I was able to perform tonight is consistent with what I can do in training.

I think every day I will only focus on if I can perform, execute what I have been training, if I can execute that on court. These are my focal points. I would like to do it from the perspective of my coach. That's how I feel on court.

I'm a player, but also I can analyze myself from a coach's perspective. If I were a coach, how would I coach a player best as possible? I would able to make adjustments on court much better now.

You could see there were ups and downs. There are misses on court. But I can maintain a good level of calmness.