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ROGERS CUP

August 9, 2018

Maria Sharapova

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

C. GARCIA/M. Sharapova

6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What is it you think went wrong out there tonight?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, the few amount of chances I did have in the second, I just didn't do the right things. I thought she played extremely well today, did the right things consistently: played deep, hard, served well. That's something that I didn't do well today.

Q. You said yesterday there were no secrets in your games because you played each other before. Did she do something different today or was she just playing her game really well?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I think so. I mean, it was quite evident her shots were deep, consistently deep. She hit the lines many times. I just didn't find them today. I found myself late, didn't step in as much as I wanted to. A few technical things that, yeah, just didn't go my way.

Q. After a two-month break, are you happy with your level this week?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, I wanted to get back into things and have a winning start. Yeah, of course, when you don't play matches for a while, it's a little bit frustrating to start and stop the amount of times that I have.

But sometimes those are the things that you have to do for your body. Yeah, those are kind of the decisions, and smart decisions, you have to make as you get a little bit older.

Q. I don't know if you noticed, but the crowd seemed to be really behind you tonight. Is there any added level of disappointment to not move on knowing you had such support here?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, look, I wish I could have taken those opportunities. I felt like they were really rooting for me to take those few breakpoints that I had in the second, which could turn things around.

But she played too good on those. I didn't get too many looks on shots that I could have moved in on. As I said, her depth was impressive today.

Q. The weather has played a big role this week. In terms of the scheduling, how does it affect your routines? How does your routine get affected when temperatures are like this? Some players say they like to nap.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I like to nap, rain or shine, so... I know. I have no Spanish in me, but I like my siestas (smiling). I'm good at them. I've taken them since I was young. Kind of in between training when I have two sessions a day, it's the only way to get through those days, is having that little bit of time for yourself.

I think everyone, most of the girls, maybe apart from a few, are well-experienced, have been through this drill of stopping and starting, having to play a little bit more in one day than maybe other days.

The draw is large. You have a lot of matches, especially if you're an unseeded player. If you do come across tough weather, it just makes it tough. There's no way around it.

Q. You got off to a fast start. Did something happen after leading 2-0?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I didn't think I played a bad game at 2-0. I think she became a little bit more aggressive. She stepped in, took a few swings. Yeah, I didn't think I did so much wrong or I made easy errors. I thought she did a lot of good things in that game. That was only the third game of the match, so...

Q. A bit more of a 30,000 feet question. You've been on tour a long time, seen many players come and go. Tennis has evolved throughout the years you've been on tour. Is there something that you feel nowadays that you sort of can get away with what you weren't able to get away with at the beginning of your career, because the level of tennis has changed?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I mean, I think there's certainly players that come in and out, and there are players that are still around that I started with. Yeah, I've spoken about the level of the game rising quite a lot. Maybe a few years ago you looked at a draw, you could get by a few rounds, use it as a warmup, preparation. As you've seen by the results and upsets over the last few years in the beginning of events, that isn't so any more.

You have to come prepared and ready, other things. Maybe that's the biggest difference that I see.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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