US OPEN

September 1, 2020

Garbine Muguruza

Press Conference

G. MUGURUZA/N. Hibino

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A quick question just about some of the changes on court. Specifically, no longer handing off sweaty towels with ball boys and ball girls. Do you think that change will be made permanent after the tournament or later on?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Sorry, you mean of the change of the towels and stuff?

Q. Yes, exactly, managing your own towels instead of passing them on.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I mean, I feel like it's back a little bit to when we were younger, not playing Grand Slam tournaments. I mean, it is different from the rhythm and the time. I got a little bit, the umpire called my attention a little bit on the time, so I have to be aware now with the towel and my opponent. I have to take care of that.

But I feel like it's back to when I was a junior player and, you know, you have to take your own towel, yeah.

Q. Can you just talk through how you felt on the court today. And also, just how your ankle is feeling. Did the extra week give it some time to heal up?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: So, yeah, I'm excited to be back. I was hoping to start two weeks ago in Lexington.

Yeah, I mean, it's hard also to get the body ready after such a long break. You have to handle new things and, you know, feel good to go and play. It's a very special Grand Slam this year without crowd. They are making a great effort to make it happen, so I'm happy to participate.

Hopefully it's not going to be like this forever. You know, I was happy to go on the court. Of course, you know, the lack of matches, it's there. I had a slow start. I think Hibino started very fast, very well, and she took the first four games very fast.

Then I started, little by little, feeling better, and starting to feel a little bit more my game. I could turn it around.

Q. I think you arrived fairly close to when the tournament was starting, so a lot of the discussion has been about the conditions, the court conditions, like the speed of the court, and that it might be playing a lot faster this year. So in terms of when you first started hitting on the court, what was your sense of the court? And do you feel you have had enough time to adjust?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Honestly, with everything, the court is the last thing I had in mind (smiling). You know, yeah, every year I try to adapt. I didn't feel there is something special about it.

Also, coming from long time at home, practicing, of course it felt different. So I had enough days to adjust. I mean, New York sometimes is windy, sometimes it's cold, hot. The surface might be a little bit faster, center courts. Yeah, but I don't make a big deal about it.

Q. What are your thoughts on the news Carla Navarro Suarez shared today, and on the type of person she is?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: When we spoke a few days ago when she gave me the news, I was, I think, shocked, because I was expecting to see her in this tournament. You know, she's such a nice woman, so sweet, so kind, so humble.

When these things happen to these good people, I feel, like, so sad about it. So I know she was watching my match, and we talked a little bit.

I, for sure, will dedicate this win to her, because I want her to feel that we are behind her, that I am behind her, and I will go and see her at some point when it is fine.

For me, it's very special. We shared a decade of emotions and everything. It's a shock for me, somebody so close that is going through this.

Q. Can you talk about your next opponent, Tsvetana Pironkova. She hasn't been on tour for three years. She left the tour to give birth and stuff, but very good fast court player in particular. Do you know anything about her? I don't think you guys have ever played before.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I don't think we ever played before. Yes, I was surprised actually, because, yeah, the last time I saw her was many years ago. And, yeah, it's going to be a little bit interesting to see, coming back for so many years out of the tour, to face an opponent I haven't watched in the last years. So it's always going to be tricky.

But, yeah, I mean, she won today. She's playing well. She's a fast court player. Yeah, I'm just going to try to be ready for my matches with not a high expectation with the circumstances.

Q. You obviously started the year incredibly well. What has the last six months with the shutdown and everything been like for you? What is your experience? Mentally how did you process? Starting really well, so it must have been a bit frustrating to have to put the racquets down.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yes, I think for everyone it was hard. For the ones that were playing well because they had to stop or the ones that were playing not so good because they couldn't make it better.

Obviously, I was fine during quarantine. I had a good time. It was healthy to rest a little bit also the body, the mind, it's a little bit of forced resting. I took it in a good way. I did things I didn't have time before.

Luckily where I was in Switzerland, it was none of the strictness of other countries. So I was good, honestly, yeah (smiling).

Q. Did you pick up any new hobbies?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I don't think new hobbies, but I did some studying, some cooking. I did some interviews and writing and stuff.

So I did try a lot of things. Also enjoying doing nothing, because sometimes, you know, we are so busy in this life, it's so intense, that just doing nothing for a little bit is also nice.

Q. What did you learn about yourself in the last six months off?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Oh, what did I learn? Hmm, interesting.

I was surprised that I wasn't -- that I was good. I was surprised that I was good. I know it's such a different life, but being away a little bit from the court and resting and everything, I was surprised that I was actually happy to experience that.

I didn't feel anxious to go back on court or that feeling. So I really took the good side of it and, you know, just used it to do other stuff that I never had time. Or kind of, like, I had a teenage, you know, like teenage half-year as a normal teenager kind of, just being home and doing different stuff.

So I enjoyed that. As well, I'm happy to be here and competing because that's what I love to do, but I take it in a good way.