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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 16, 2016

Garbine Muguruza

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How is your foot? How are you feeling physically now?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, my foot is good. I had time to recover from Brisbane. I needed a couple of days to rest. Yeah, it's improving.

Hopefully I can be as healthy as I can for the first round.

Q. Do you still feel pain when you're practicing?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, yes, sometimes. It's just a pain that sometimes you feel it and sometimes no. So it's kind of hard to deal with it sometimes.

But for now it's good.

Q. As the season begins, what is your attitude going into this year after the way 2015 ended?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: My attitude? Well, I think just try to keep what I was doing last year, try to be calm. Is a new year. Everybody starts from zero.

So really no expectations. Just try to keep my tennis level of what I've felt the last season, and that's it.

Q. If somebody had said to you at the Australian Open here last year that next time you would walk into this tournament you'd be No. 3 in the world, what would you have said?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, for sure it would be like, Wow! For sure.

But I think it's great. It's great. It shows you that you can, if you want something, really get it. I prove.

Q. Do you feel any pressure to repeat what you did last year or do even better?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: For sure I want to do better. I know this is a very important tournament for us, so it's where you want to, you know, do well.

But pressure? Yeah, the one that I put on myself maybe. But not really. Yeah, let's see what can I do. Try to play good matches. But there's no really nothing else to say.

Q. When you entered the off-season, obviously you had a huge year, did you have the pre-season training you hoped to have? Did it have any obstacles in it? Did you get the best preparation possible?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, when I ended up last year, I felt really, you know, tired. So I felt I needed to rest more than to get immediately to practice. So I rest more than obviously the last years because I felt that that's what was needed.

So, yeah, I had time to recover. I had time to practice. Yeah, I had some issues. But normal issues when you practice a lot and you work out really hard.

But, yeah, so far, good.

Q. You've now had a significant amount of time working with Sam. I think when you first teamed up together, you were a little hesitant to talk about the relationship because it was new. Now that you've worked together more, what are your practices? What is the dynamic like when you work with him?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I think we have a great communication, and that's not something easy. When you are on the court, you're excited, angry. We have a great communication.

I don't know. We immediately get along really well fast. Yeah, we have a good connection. I think he's a great professional. I really want to learn what he has to teach me.

So for now it's great. It's great to have him in my team.

Q. He has a great record here, winning twice. What has he told you, the specifics, to do well at the Australian Open are?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: There is no recipe. I mean, come here as prepared as possible. After the pre-season, everybody's fit here. So nothing different. Nothing different.

Q. Do you sense the time might be right for a kind of switch-around at the very top of the women's game?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: What do you mean?

Q. Do you want me to spell it out? There are thoughts that Serena might not be as fit as she was in years gone by.
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Okay.

Q. To maintain throughout the year.
GARBINE MUGURUZA: A lot of people ask me this. I'm like, I have no idea what to answer. I'm like, Seriously.

She's still there. She's still dominating. I have no idea what her plans are. I'll keep fighting to stay there and, I don't know, just be in the top level.

Q. With the Olympics coming up, there's a lot of questions about who will play what events. What is your dream situation? Playing all three events? Playing with who?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, that will be my first Olympics. I think it's only one week of the tournament, it's like a normal tournament. So I don't know what I'm going to do. I know I'm going to play singles. I don't know if I'm going to play doubles or mixed.

Well, obviously on doubles I have Carla, that we are very looking forward to do something great there. But I don't know, I don't have any more information about the rest.

I know I've been asked a lot of questions about the mixed, but I don't know. It's a decision that at the end we are not the one that make that decision. So for now, no idea.

Q. What would be the ideal hypothetical one?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: The ideal? Sometimes when you play a lot, because I won a medal or something, you play a lot, you don't get any medal.

I really don't know because I don't have any experience in these situations. The ideal would be to compete in everything and win everything you can.

Q. A preferred mixed partner?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, obviously the idea of playing with Rafa, so many people ask me. Yeah, how can I say no? It's ridiculous. Yeah, for sure.

Q. You told us in Singapore last year that you were taking English lessons because you wanted to be more expressive in press conferences. Are you still doing them?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, I'm traveling with a book that sometimes is hard to do it. But I think it's very important because when you talk to people and they can understand you and you have the vocabulary you need, I think it's better for me and the other person.

So many people has this ideal that Spanish people, it's hard on the English side. So I'm like trying to improve that (smiling).

Q. You said that you took some extra time to rest after Singapore. Where did you spend that time and what did you do?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, I took actually a lot of time. I did a little bit of everything. I visit some friends, some family also. Just relax. I was really tired. Just needed to do different things.

For sure, spending time with my family after a great year, that's what I really wanted to do. Nothing else. Just when you are like that tired, you actually don't want to do a lot of things. Just relax.

Q. The issues you've had with your foot, does that at all change your expectations or goals for this year? Are you any more cautious about what your hopes are for the early part of the season especially?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Because of the foot?

Q. Yes.
GARBINE MUGURUZA: No, I felt the foot also last year a lot of times. It's just something I have sometimes. It's not going to change.

It makes you realize, Oh, you have to be healthy. It's important.

But like always, nothing changed because of what I felt in first round of Brisbane.

Q. What would be a good 2016 for you? What would be a good year for you?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: A good year? I think everybody's expecting like to see, Hey, do better, win that, win the other one. But I think it's going to be a really hard year for me because, you know, I've never been in a situation from everybody. Me, also, I'm like, How I'm going to deal with all these new things?

I'm actually very curious about how I'm going to feel myself when I go to the court, if I'm going to be able to be there, not think about so many things.

I think my goal is to be calm, not get like this.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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