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BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 10, 2017

Garbine Muguruza

Indian Wells, California

G. MUGURUZA/K. Flipkens

6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you feel out there on your first match?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: I felt -- I didn't compete in a while, but in a good way. I think it was a difficult match. I think she's very talented and she can hit some critical shots and she can be tricky. I'm happy because it was not a first, easy match, like a first round. I don't know. It was a big win for me, actually.

Q. Why would you say that it's a big win for you?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Because I didn't play in Dubai. I rested. It's not like I have been training a lot and super hard. I have been training all I could to come here prepared.

So I also arrived from Wednesday, and I was playing on Friday, so I tried to adapt fast and having her in the first round. So it's a lot of combination, you know.

Q. Why did you arrive so late?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I was in New York, and I was doing exhibition there, which was very -- I felt like a rock star (smiling). But, yeah, it was fun. One thing and another one. I came here on Wednesday.

Q. Do you enjoy being a rock star?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, that day, yes. Obviously, you're in Madison Square Garden. There is a room, like, with all the historical moments and stuff. You feel, like, wow, I'm here, part of this. I'm going to play here. It's an honor to be there, actually.

Q. Arriving here, how did you feel?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: I feel good. I love this tournament, by the way. Everybody loves this tournament. They call it the fifth Grand Slam. It's very different conditions here from the previous tournaments as well.

So I feel good. I'm going to keep hopefully playing more matches.

Q. This felt like a big win. What are your expectations for the tournament?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I never know. I never know my expectations for the tournament. I believe every time I play the tournament I see myself holding a trophy, for sure. I want to believe I'm one of these women that can win the tournament.

After that, I could lose in third round. I just want to go out there, my next match, and try to play well, try to do my game, basically.

Q. Why do you think this tournament is called the fifth slam? What makes it so fifth slammy?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, they have a lot, a lot of practice courts. They have a huge center court and a lot of little stadiums, as well. Every year I come there is something new. They have, well, premium mandatory, and men's, it's also big. Everything makes it very, very good.

Q. Do you feel this tournament is in a league of its own category compared to the rest of the WTA events?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, between the premium mandatory this is a much bigger space, much nicer. I don't know. I just love here. I love California. I love the weather. I think it's a very healthy place as well. Just a mix.

Q. Do you eat the fancy food here? They have all sorts of crazy restaurants and stuff.
GARBINE MUGURUZA: No. I actually heard there is a super, super restaurant somewhere here. Honestly, my life is here, gym, and the practice courts. I didn't even know there was, like, huge screen that I just saw now there.

Yeah, sometimes you never saw the other side of the tournament. Like, when I go, I never walk around and see what's for the fans.

Q. How do you meet up -- you see yourself holding a trophy at the end of the tournament but then you might lose the third round. How do you try to avoid the early loss so you can do what you believe you can do?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I think it's very important to believe that you are a good player. And if you do what you have to do, you can be an optional winner? I don't know if that makes sense. Like, you can be the winner.

But after that, obviously I can -- I can lose in first round, quarterfinal, this doesn't matter, but I always, when I go to a tournament, I'm like -- I see myself, like, holding a trophy. Maybe it doesn't happen. I don't know. The self-confidence, I guess.

Q. When you won the French Open and you were actually holding a big trophy at the end, did it feel sort of like, I have dreamt this or imagined this? You didn't look as surprised maybe at sometimes first-time winners do.
GARBINE MUGURUZA: I don't know how the first-time winners look. It's true two previous years I lost in the quarterfinals, and I'm, like, I'm not far. I think I'm good on clay. I think I'm playing well. Maybe one year I can go farther than quarterfinals.

I don't know. A lot of people tell me I wasn't that surprised, but I don't know how to act. I was, like, happy. I was trying to be composed also, I think.

Q. When you win a major, how does that change the journey for you? Because obviously around you a lot of things change once you win a major. What was that like? What kind of education has it been for you? Do you look to people like maybe Angelique to see how they have adjusted after winning the first major?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, of course. I think it's always very tricky, because everybody is waiting for, When are you going to win the next one? That's the classic. But it's actually very difficult.

I think it's a privilege, first of all, to feel like this. And once you taste the sweet honey, you want more of that. Obviously every time I go to a Grand Slam, I'm, like, superexcited. I know this is a huge tournament. I don't know. You're, like, more motivated.

But I don't know. We'll see what happens. So far I'm still -- I'm still good.

Q. Is there any experience you got from winning a Grand Slam that you wouldn't have expected before? Something about winning one you didn't know before? Maybe amount of work it takes? Momentum of the tournament? Any experience that you now have that you didn't have before?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Sorry. I don't really understand the question.

Q. I mean, you never really now what it feels like until you actually do it. So what do you know now that you didn't know before you won?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: I know that doing final and winning is nothing comparable. I think nobody remembers the finalist. I think the first matches of a Grand Slam are the key matches. I felt that when I went there to French Open and I had a tough round, first one, third set, weather, it was such hard conditions. And I went through and then another match I went through.

And after, after is very beautiful. It's those first matches that are the ones that really you see who is the best player.

Q. The weather was terrible at the French Open last year when you won. Do you now enjoy terrible weather as a positive memory?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I just think it was hard because it was clay and there was no roof and it was, like, wet all the time.

Basically, I was lucky that I didn't -- they didn't cancel me a lot of times. Some players were canceled. On the court, off the court, went on the court. I think that's a little bit pain in the -- sorry.

Q. With the perspective you had with the first slam now, do you think in general people underestimate how difficult it is to have that accomplishment?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: I don't know if it's underestimate. I think people, when they see someone winning, they already think that -- okay. Give you an example. Like when I played French Open and I won the French Open, everybody thought that I was going to do final and Wimbledon and that's not so difficult.

There is only one player in the entire draw that is going to win the Grand Slam, and that's how amazing -- like what Serena was doing. She has -- I don't even know how many. And Kerber also.

So I just think it's -- most of the people are just fans and they just want to, you know, push for the one they like. So sometimes they were, like, so disappointed, Oh, didn't won. But in fact it's normal.

Q. Do you know anything about Kayla Day? That's your next opponent.
GARBINE MUGURUZA: No, not really. Well, I heard in the -- I think I heard she won the US Open Junior Championship. Well, that's a big thing, obviously.

I'm just going to explore a little bit, you know, and talk with my coach and see what we can do. Honestly it's all about my game.

Q. Explore? Go on YouTube?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: I guess so. That is for sure a great tool. Yeah, there is not a lot of things when you don't know a player at all.

Q. Do you think you're a moody player, your mood affects how you compete closely or not so much? Do you feel like your mood affects your play very much, or not so much?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: My mood? Oh, sure, yes. I think not only to play. I think for everything you do. If you're pissed, you're gonna play -- you have more options to play bad. If you're feeling happy and motivated -- it's like if you have a bad day and you don't change your mindset, even if you go to buy bread at the supermarket, you're going to be, like, everything is so bad.

It happens to me. Today I'm very negative. You have to change it. Yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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