THE MODERATOR: Jannik, welcome back to Shanghai. We all watched the final of the China Open, have you recovered from that, and have you had your first practice yet in Shanghai, how are you feeling?
JANNIK SINNER: I'm very happy to be back here, it's a very nice tournament, very special tournament. I had my first practice session just now, I just finished, so I feel good, I feel recovered, so, yeah, it's all good.
THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions.
Q. We know how much you've grown as a player since you were last in Shanghai, you're now world No. 1, with two Grand Slam titles, but how much have you grown as a person?
JANNIK SINNER: Yeah, it's maybe even more important than being a player. Obviously when you are young, around 20, 21, 22, every year it feels like a big step forward. Many things have changed in one year, so I feel I made a great process throughout this year.
Also, because of the success, it's not changing my mindset or how I behave with people or whatever, so this is very positive, I feel like. Also surrounding myself with good people, you know, having my family and having the people who know me, and then they give me support, you know, the daily support, which means so much to me. Yeah, so I feel in a good place, and obviously hoping that, even next year, if you ask me the same question, then I can answer you something similar.
Q. You said after the China Open that it just wasn't your day, and I wonder if a few days later you've had any more time to reflect on what went wrong, and whether particularly the pressure of the last week with the WADA appeal played into it at all.
JANNIK SINNER: Yeah, you know, I already answered this in Beijing about the appeal, that I'm a bit surprised, and, you know, but in another way I knew that there is potentially that this could happen. It happened, I'm still surprised, but I will, you know, collaborate like I did before. I had three hearings, which the three hearings went all my way, which, you know, it was good, but now let's see, you know, but I'm very confident that it comes out very positively, or I would be very, very surprised if it would be the opposite side.
You know, it's not a situation where I feel comfortable in, that's for sure, because I thought it was over, and now once again, so it's not easy.
Talking about the match there, you know, this can happen. You know, 7-6 in the third, it can go his way, can go my way, and in the end it went his way. I had some chances in the third set, he should have won the first set, you know, which then I won.
The second set, I had chances, I had break points on 4-3, couldn't use them. I had some chances on 5-4.
In the third set, I was up 3-0, and in the breaker he came up with some incredible shots, so, it was a great match and that's it.
Q. You obviously have an incredible rivalry on court with Carlos Alcaraz, but it seems like you also enjoy spending time off court together. I was wondering if you could comment on that and just, you know, how hard it is for rivals, or easy, for rivals to also be friends.
JANNIK SINNER: Well, I feel like that for us it's quite easy, no, because we are, I feel like we are quite similar as human beings off the court. On the court we are a bit different, because that's normal, that's our nature. But, you know, off court, I listen to him, I have the feeling that he likes to surround himself with the close people, which I do. Yeah, I mean it's, for us, how we live is very normal, let's say, you know. Then, obviously, on the court we try to beat, we try to put on a big fight, you know, like we always do and we always try.
Then at least he pushes me to do better, you know, which is something good, where then I try to improve my game in the next days or, you know, in the off-season, you know, you're going to practice for that. Off the court, you know, we are quite similar.
Q. Can you share with us about your itinerary yesterday, and how will you prepare for the next competition.
JANNIK SINNER: No, I haven't done anything. Me and Carlos, we had a nice event with Nike. You know, we made some appearance there, which was very nice to connect also with some fans, which was great.
I'm just trying a little bit to rest, I went a bit in the gym, and now today I practice here for the first time.
As I said, it's always special to come back here, and then hopefully I will be ready for tomorrow's first match.
Q. Obviously Chinese tennis is improving quite a lot, and it's getting more popular, can you talk about that from a player perspective.
JANNIK SINNER: Yeah, I feel like it's amazing because, you know, the country is big, you know, many, many people, so it's nice to have new up-and-coming players. Now in the top 100 you have a good amount, and in the top 200 you have a good amount, and I feel like it's coming.
It's nice, you know, I practice quite a lot now with Chinese players, and everyone plays very good tennis. When someone plays good tennis, it's just a question of time, you know. When he arrives, if it's top 100, top 50, top 20, this I don't know, but I think the tennis here in China, it will grow, which is that what I guess you're all looking forward. So, yeah, I'm quite confident that it will become big here in China.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports