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MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 7, 2016

Madrid, Spain

GARCIA-MLADENOVIC/Mirza-Hingis

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. First of all, I guess congratulations. Three titles in a row. Must be very happy.
CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, no, I mean, it's definitely great period for us. Three final, three title, and two times against No. 1 in the world, Martina and Sania, and once against Bethanie and Lucie. So it's only great matches every single time.

Very, very happy with what we produced on the court today.

Q. Can either of you remember a time, whether it was in juniors or pros, that you won 13 consecutive matches in anything?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: When you compete out there, that's not something you think about. You just go out there ever single day with the mindset that you have to build all over again either in singles or doubles and just keep working building, and if it goes well, it's positive. Just want to keep going.

Just to answer the question, I don't know. Maybe in juniors I did that. I can't remember.

CAROLINE GARCIA: (Indiscernible.)

KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: There was a great period for me in juniors. Obviously I finished No. 1 in juniors and I won couple doubles and singles, but I can't remember if it was like straight wins. Again, this is not something you focused on because it's something very difficult to achieve. It's kind of a record.

But to be honest, that's not what we are aiming. We just try to go out there every single day and be humble and work hard our way and to just be successful. It's going well. It's better. But that's how it is.

Q. The Olympics is very, very close. How excited are you both? I presume you'll play together there as well, in Rio.
CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, it's definitely good, but it's still far and there is a lot of important tournament before this one. When we ask each other to play doubles together that was not the first goal we have.

WTA tournament and Grand Slam, it's more important for us. Of course Olympics is something good and something we want to play well, but it's not the first thing we have in mind.

Q. You guys brought France to the Fed Cup final. How difficult is it with the Fed Cup calendar to be in the final and have to wait for seven months to play the final?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Well, to be honest, we are all aware how tough it is to give all of yourself in Fed Cup every single year.

Personally, I gave a lot. It's showing with my singles results just afterwards, in the weeks straight afterwards. It's not easy. It's a very busy year with Fed Cup and Olympics. Just the fact that we are doing so well in Fed Cup and we just qualify with the girls for the final, definitely not easy to have the final totally at the end the season very far away. Kind of a long gap in between everything and a lot of important tournaments coming in between until then.

But, you know, it's a year. You cannot be up high, successful in everything, like singles, Fed Cup, Grand Slam doubles and everything.

So you try to do your best, find a balance, and just be positive work hard and keep going.

That's definitely something we going to have to just prepare when the time will come for the Fed Cup.

But before that, we all going to focus on our own season until then. We'll see how it goes for the final.

Q. Obviously biggest final you've played so far and won. Is it disappointing and frustrating that it wasn't really broadcast and you couldn't see it unless you were here?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Yeah, in a way it's very disappointing, because, I mean, you know, everybody around us is talking about how it's a dreamy final. You know, two weeks in a row we are challenging the world No. 1. It's Sania and Martina. They have huge careers.

Yeah, I totally agree. I think woman's doubles or woman's tennis is maybe not, how to say, that respected or broadcasted enough like would be -- I don't know if men's doubles is broadcast.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Every match.

KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Every match. That's a little bit of a shame, because we both have family, friends cheering up for us at home. They would like to watch. Fans also, I guess, and it's not on.

CAROLINE GARCIA: And it's a mandatory tournament.

KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: That's a very big question, to be honest. We don't know. I don't know and don't have the answers why it doesn't work that way.

You know, we just try our hardest to make people enjoy it, love, it and maybe one day we will be able to make things turn around.

That's all we can do.

Q. This question is specifically for Caroline. Both of your parents were there. How did it feel for you to win a title in front of both of them? I know your dad travels and coaches you, but in front of your mom as well.
CAROLINE GARCIA: No, I mean, it's great, but she was there in Charleston and Stuttgart as well.

KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: We are both very close to families. That's very important for us.

CAROLINE GARCIA: Yeah, family is big part of our project for both of us. It's always great when you can shine in front of them and share with them the emotion and hard work.

There is sometimes difficult period of time in your career, and when there is great one, it's great to be able to share with your loved one.

Q. You guys are obviously primarily two singles players. Was there a point in time when you realized, Damn, we work well together as a team?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Yeah, you just said it yourself. We are both singles players. We don't have in mind to start any doubles career, even obviously that's what we're doing because we play big tournaments because it's very important for our game to improve.

It's just exciting to challenge every kind of game, and overall it's our own career and we also enjoy the doubles game. Yeah, we are very happy to play together and that things are working well.

You know, a career that is very rewarded to have big titles like this. We won't refuse it. We take it for sure. Nothing is like giving for granted. It's just our work. We are very young and we are very positive.

From my opinion, no reason it doesn't pay off for singles in the future for both of us.

Q. KiKi, you were very critical of Maria Sharapova after the news came out. What's the reaction to that from other players, after your remarks?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: I don't want to talk about this subject anymore. I just -- I am one of the very rare that talk about it out loud, that really had, I don't know if it's a courage, to say what most of the people think, but the chapter is closed for me.

I just said what I was thinking. I mean, I was respecting her. She's a big and great champion that was playing and is still playing when I was younger and coming on the tour. I was the first one very disappointed. That's the main thing. I don't want to talk about her case anymore.

There is no place to be.

Q. Both you guys were playing well on hard courts, but obviously now on clay, running the table. I am wondering if you kind of expected that once the tour switched over to clay courts that your game would click together as a doubles team, or whether you just needed a few months to play together and now you're just playing good? Like how much does the surface have to do with it?
CAROLINE GARCIA: We didn't expect to play better on clay than on hard. On hard we were already happy with what we did, two finals and one very close to get one more win.

But maybe our game is even better on clay. I don't know. But our kick serve and forehand with spin is a little bit more efficient on this surface.

Also we needed time to find adjustment about the other one. We are knowing each other better and better every week, so maybe it's going to be better and better every week.

We hope so, but sometime it's just on one point where you go to cover the other one, and at the beginning you didn't do it. It's one more point with no ad and tiebreak like this, and one point can change everything.

Q. Any celebratory plans?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Any plans for celebration? We basically have 12 more minutes before catching our car to get to the airport. The biggest reward was the first dessert of the week. Here at buffet it's amazing, and we didn't - both of us; we are very proud - touch any sweet things, which is very, very good.

CAROLINE GARCIA: But we did now.

KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Incredible. So we just had the dinner already. It was just about sweets and crepes. We really enjoyed it. That was the biggest reward. Yeah, just going to the airport, I guess celebrate, spend sometime with our families. That's our job, the routine, and just to focus on the next one. Because tomorrow it's already a new place, new tournament, new challenges.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 7, 2016

Kristina Mladenovic

Caroline Garcia