German Angelique Kerber, who topped WTA world rankings, refused to put too much pressure on herself and hoped to enjoy the China Open which kicked off in Beijing on Saturday.
"I will not put more pressure on me. I mean, I will try to give my best here and enjoy this tournament," said Kerber.
Kerber experienced a magical year in 2016 as she claimed the titles of the Australian Open and US Open, becoming the new world No. 1 after Serena Williams of US. She attributed her consistency throughout the year to just trying her best in every match.
"I'm trying to go to each tournament thinking match by match, not thinking too much about what's happening around, just playing my best, practicing good during the tournaments and having good recovery," she said, adding that she did not keep maintaining her top position until the WTA Final in mind either.
"I'm not thinking about this yet. I'm here to play every single match, to go out and win matches. Then we will see if I can be still the No. 1 at the end," commented Kerber.
Kerber said that she has been used to dealing with pressure from her victory at the Australian Open early this year.
"It started actually at the beginning of the year after the Australian Open, where I had to learn to get used to all the stuff around me. I had to learn to say no because this is really important at the end to take care of yourself.
"Now I'm on a good way to deal with all this stuff because there are a lot of months now. It started actually in January. I'm really happy how I'm doing this. You have to learn a lot of things during this process," said Kerber, who has never been into the tournament's semifinals in her last six attempts.
