Players get together for Wuhan Open welcome party

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01:36

In this year's first episode of CGTN Sports Scene's special tennis series, Beyond the Baseline, we head to the WTA Wuhan Open as the fifth edition of the Premier 5 level tournament held a welcome ceremony for the players on Saturday.

Romanian World No. 1 Simona Halep, who is taking part in the tournament, told CGTN Sports Scene, “Everything is going quite well. I am practicing very hard. I am looking forward to start the tournament on a positive note. Every time I come here I feel good. This year I want to play better than the last year.”

One of her prime rivals and former World No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark mentioned, “I think everyone has got tired at this time of the season but only a few tournaments left. Hopefully, I will do well.”

It's the 5th edition of the tournament and the usual welcoming party was quite grand even though many players were jetlagged.

World No. 1 Simona Halep attending the Wuhan Open players' welcome ceremony. /VCG Photo

Latvian World No. 19 Anastasija Sevastova said, “I can relax just chilling in my room or playing playstation.”

She also informed CGTN Sports Scene, “I generally play Spiderman as it's a great game.”

Home girl, China's Zhang Shuai said, “A lot of time I play really well in my home country and I am hoping to play well this year.”

Although it's not a master event the annual tennis jamboree in the central China has already been a popular stopover with many popular players.

Fabrice Chouquet, the co-director of Wuhan Open sounded upbeat.

“We started from nothing here. We didn't have a tennis center when I visited the venue for the first time.”

“We are extremely proud of what we have achieved in just 5 years having all the top players of the world coming here to Wuhan,” he added.