A. SABALENKA/Y. Putintseva
1-6, 6-4, 6-0
THE MODERATOR: Aryna, congratulations on today's win. Give us a brief comment on today's match.
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, that was really difficult battle. Yulia always put it into a great fight. Yeah, had to work really hard to get this win. In the first set, seems like whatever she would do would play well for her. Yeah, I was struggle with strings. I was all over the place.
I'm really glad that I was able to put myself together in the second set and things clicked. Yeah, I was able to get this win.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about the game at 4-3. Seemed pretty important. You didn't lose another at that point.
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, yeah, I mean, honestly I don't know. I mean, I would say I didn't play well. I didn't behave well. Everything was just going the wrong way.
In that game I was just, like, trying to cool myself down and just to remind myself to just keep trying, keep fighting. You have to work for it, you have to run, you have to play the point, build the point, find the right shot, then go for it, not rush things. I was just having that conversation in my head all the time.
I guess it helped, that little cool-down, that little chat to myself. Yeah, after that game I felt, I don't know, like something clicked. The return was better. The movement was better. The decisions I was making on court was much better. I felt like that was really turning point in the match.
I'm really happy, yeah, I didn't give up.
Q. We know Yulia is your friend. How do you feel about playing against your friend on the court?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, she's my friend. I mean, it's tough. It's tough to play. Especially we both are really emotional people. We were really going up and down, up and down with our emotions today. But I think we're still friends, which is good (smiling).
But yeah, I mean, really good to separate this tennis life and off-court life with my tennis friends. We're competitors on court, we are fighting for it, we probably behave not really in the best way, but we understand that. Off court we didn't bring, like, tennis life. That's really important.
Q. She must really like you if you beat her 6-Love and still...
ARYNA SABALENKA: Probably she's not going to invite me for her really great dinner. She's really good in cooking. Yeah, it's tough. She's making delicious. Probably I'll never try her stuff again. Or she'll invite me and she'll poison my meal. We'll see. I hope no (smiling).
Q. Does she have a signature dish that she makes?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, the last one was I think carbonara. It was like Italian pasta. Was so good. I was like give me more, it was so good.
Q. Before your match, I'm not sure if you got the news, Rafa Nadal announced his retirement. Do you have any contact, connection with him? Were you inspired by him?
ARYNA SABALENKA: Yeah, actually I was watching his retirement video before the match. That was very emotional video. I mean, I didn't cry, but I had like tears in my eyes.
What he achieved in this sport, it's incredible. He's inspiration for all of us, for the next generation, for current players. He's a legend.
I mean, as he said actually there, everything has the beginning and the end. We all going to be there. I'm really happy for what he was able to achieve. He was inspiration for everyone. He's a hard worker.
He definitely had like so much love to this sport. That's really cool to see. Yeah, I was inspired by him. He was my inspiration.
I wish him all the best in his next chapter - I almost said capture (smiling). Yeah, he's incredible person and I wish him all the best.
Q. After the match I saw someone cheering for you in Russian. You responded with a gesture. Talking about the public's support, would that give you positive energy?
ARYNA SABALENKA: I mean, I love playing here. I love the support. People love tennis here so much. I love that we always receive cute gifts here. It's only happened in China. It's really special. That's why we all love playing here. That's why we all come here even if it's the end of the season and everyone tired. But everyone coming because it's always great atmosphere.
Their support, it's means a lot to me. I'm really grateful for all the support and them talking Russian, which is really difficult I'm pretty sure. Yeah, that was a cool moment. Yeah, I was happy to hear that.
Q. An interview that your biomechanic coach Gavin was giving, adjustments to your serve and forehand. What adjustments have you made? He mentioned the idea that working on your technique and having better technique makes you mentally tougher, less necessary to have a sports psychologist.
ARYNA SABALENKA: Last but very huge question (smiling).
Well, about the psychologist part, about mental part, I would say that I work with psychologist for many years. I improved a lot of things. But at some point I just realized that I have my team around me, and they know me better than whoever. They know what they have to tell me. They know when to push me, when to slow me down. I know that I can talk to them. That's why I don't feel that much need of psychologist.
But the biomechanic stuff, part of the game, it's really important. Before that happened to my serve, I would never actually be open for something like that, for such a big changes, I would say.
Actually, I'm really glad that happened to my serve, so I was forced to hire someone like Gavin. I was forced to learn something new. I'm really glad.
That was the worst thing ever to happen to me, but at the same time that was the best thing because I met Gavin, I learned a lot of new stuff. I'm more open right now for biomechanic.
Yeah, also knowing like the tennis part from that side, it's definitely give you so much confident because you know how things works, you tried it on match, you know it's works. Whatever situation you facing, like you don't feel your forehand or backhand, you know exactly the steps you have to make to bring that shot back.
Yeah, I'm really glad I was able to meet him. I'm really happy that I have him in my team. Yeah, we improved my serve a lot. We keep working. There's a lot of things to be improved on my serve and also forehand.
As you see, the statistics are showing that I definitely can make that shot really heavy. Adjustment I made for my forehand, I would say before I was trying to over-rush things, try to run to the ball, meet it earlier, which actually makes sense, to take time from the opponent.
In my case, I have to actually wait for the shot and wait for the right moment to actually hit the forehand, to make that rotation, which gives me much more power and control on the shot.
I mean, probably I'm not the best one to explain in English what I mean. You can talk more to Gavin. He can explain you a bit more in details. I know how things works. Probably I'm terrible in explaining stuff.
Yeah, wow, that was a long answer (smiling). If someone is translating right now, I'm really sorry (smiling).
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