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INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

May 18, 2017

Garbine Muguruza

Rome, Italy

G. MUGURUZA/J. Goerges

7-5, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. That was some comeback in the second set. How is your confidence right now?
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: I think it was a good match, honestly. It had a little bit of everything. A very tight first set. A comeback in the second set.

She's a very aggressive player and a big serve. Sometimes, you know, she went far in the score like in the second set, but I was kind of, like, waiting. I knew I would have my opportunities later. I didn't really panic on that.

But I'm happy to be able to come down from 4-1 and after play good and win 6-4.

Q. I guess maybe it's my impression, but you wouldn't stop smiling after this kind of victory. Are you particularly happy with this victory?
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: Well, I'm very happy with every victory, honestly. Because I feel like right now every girl, every woman, is playing very good. You never know when they go to the court who is going to win.

It's so equal that I felt today like if I didn't play well and concentrated, I could lose easily this match. I was very happy also because I didn't play my best in Madrid, and in Stuttgart I kind of lost in the third set. So I'm happy to be able to win matches here in Rome.

Q. I saw your leg taped. Is everything okay?
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: Yeah, it's everything okay. I just ended up yesterday very late, and I didn't have a lot of time to recovery. So I just thought, like, let's prevent rather than after being injured.

Q. I agree with you that everything is very equal and we have no idea who is going to win any match. How does that feel different from before? Why do you think this is happening now? It just seems like every tournament you don't know. Every match is a coin flip.
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: Well, I think maybe two players are out that were the most kind of leading, and after that, all these girls are kind of in a similar level. There is nobody that I feel right now that is much better than the other ones.

Like in Serena at some point she was, like, it was a difference. You know, the way she was playing and she was winning Grand Slams, boom, boom, like this. But now there is a moment where it's tough. It's tough for everybody. Even if you are 1, 2, 3, sometimes I'm looking at the score or the match, and I'm, like, 1 is playing against 3, or 1 with 20, and the 20 is gonna win. Doesn't really matter right now the ranking.

Q. Two players out? You mean Serena and Vika? Sharapova?
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: Yeah, I mean, there was a time where maybe -- I think Serena was the one who is leading more, and when she's out it's a little bit of -- everybody can win, kind of. Yeah, Maria is also -- yeah, Vika was dominant, as well. We are searching for the next one, I guess.

Q. Going off that, when you say that you see No. 1 versus 20 and you think No. 20 is going to win or something like that, what do you look at, then, if ranking is not necessarily determinative of those matchups? Do you look at form, matchups, styles? How do you evaluate matches like that?
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: I think sometimes I look at the player and her attitude and how is she playing, how is she overcoming the important game, or how is she playing, I don't know, a 5-4 game. You know, these situations where you kind of know I think she's gonna win the match eventually.

And it doesn't really matter the ranking. I don't know why. I got the same question the other day. I didn't know what to really answer. I'm, like, I don't know.

Q. On that, how does this make you feel? Is this a good thing, bad thing, fun, scary? This whole sort of uncertainty about everything, the mystery of it all, how do you process it?
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: I think it's good. First of all, I don't really think. I'm, like, I'm going to do my stuff and that's it. I think it's good. I think every time I go to a tournament I can lift the trophy.

I thought that before, as well, but, you know, you were like, Ah, I have to go through this girl. You know, if you win a Grand Slam, you were thinking, I have to beat Serena to win a Grand Slam.

But now it's more like -- I don't know. Surprise after surprise.

Q. Simona told us that she likes to read psychology books in her free time to work on this particular aspect of her personality. Are you working on your mental aspect, and if you're working on it, how?
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: Oh, I work every freaking day on that. I think that's what I'm step by step doing and improving.

It's not about going to psychology and telling your problems and blah, blah, blah, because I have done that in the past. It's more about coming to a tournament like here. Maybe you didn't play well at the last tournament, and you work every day in your practice and in the warmup and everything you do, because after, when you go -- you're kind of playing the tournament since you wake up, kind of. So you have to, every day, do something and improve that.

That's my way of doing it. Everybody has their way of doing it. For sure, I have help also from my team, and that's awesome.

Q. Could you please gauge your mindset now compared to what it was a year ago? Are you more positive? Are you more anxious? Are you more nervous or relaxed? Bearing in mind what's coming up in a week or so's time.
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: I don't feel more relaxed. I feel that it's less dramatic. The lose is less dramatic. I feel like I have more responsibility. I think it's a good thing, but I just feel that.

And I will say I'm less emotional. Before, I was, like, I don't know, was hard for me to handle the joy, the sadness, now I'm here and I'm there.

Now I'm kind of finding a better balance, and hopefully I can find more and more, because that's kind of my goal, to improve that. So that's what I feel.

Q. On that, you're going to the French Open in a couple weeks as a defending champion, but like you're saying, anyone can win a trophy in any week, does knowing that at all relax you, knowing to say, hey, it's not like everyone expects me to win because I'm the champion, but no one knows what's going to happen, so it's less pressure? Does that compute at all for you?
GARBIÃ‘E MUGURUZA: I think people, if it's asking if I'm going to win the French Open again, I'm, like, I don't know. I think it's not a very logic question when they ask me these. I'm, like, Yeah, hopefully.

But I think it's very hard to do like what Halep did. She won Madrid and next year she wins the same tournament. I think that's very hard to do, and especially like Grand Slams.

I'm not thinking a lot about French Open. Everybody is asking me, since one month, all the questions are about French Open. I'm, like, I know it's there. I know I'm the defending champion. Hey, not a lot of girls can say that. So I will take it in a positive way and we will see what happens.

That's it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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