AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 9, 2021

Garbine Muguruza

Press Conference

G. MUGURUZA/M. Gasparyan

6-4, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How does it feel to get that first round out of the way?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: It felt good out there. You know, excited to start the Grand Slam already after few weeks here on-site and in Melbourne. I think it was the first set that was tough. I think we both played well. I was happy to close at 5-4.

The second set, I feel like I started a little bit better and I took the lead quite early. That gave me an advantage. At the end I think I played better.

Q. Your week leading up to this tournament was great, making the final. What did you take away from that week? Was it the four wins, dropping only 10 games, or the lessons learned in the final in the loss to Ash?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I think a very positive week. After having the quarantine and training, having an extra tournament to play on the same court, I feel like it was great no matter if I ended up losing the final or not.

I feel like I did well. I also had many chances on the final. I mean, I think the hard work, it's there, it's showing on the court. I was excited to have this feeling towards a Grand Slam.

Q. About your run here last year. It was your best slam result for nearly three years. How much confidence did you take from it? You were back showing your best. You've been winning so many matches since making the final in Melbourne. How important was this run here last year for you?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Definitely very important because it was my best result in couple of years. I felt like you can always work hard and results might not come immediately. I felt like at that moment all those tough moments or the hard work, the kind of puzzle got together. I could play finally at the level that I wanted to.

Then reaching the final, it's always incredible. Of course, to win it is even better. Already to be in the final, I felt like this is the right way, I'm finally feeling like I can play those finals again.

It's like a certainty that what you're doing, it's good. Sometimes it takes time. Sometimes right away pays off.

Q. Do you feel like that's carried on since, that feeling and certainty?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I feel like it helped me, for sure, to set up a path of what worked that year. Just keep doing the same thing. Also with my team, very happy with the way we're working. We have so far the same vision, same eye-to-eye.

Yeah, I feel like that helped me.

Q. How difficult is it to refocus coming out of last week's tournament with just a day off? Is that a difficult process to go through, especially after playing someone like Ash on Sunday?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I felt like I didn't had to do much. I just felt like another match is coming. I didn't had that much time to see much. I felt like I finished the final, and I had a day to train, then I was back on Margaret Court.

I didn't felt like I had to do something different. I'm just wearing different clothes kind of. But, yeah, in that way it helped me to have many matches, just to keep the rhythm, just one more day on court.

Q. Earlier you said the results now coming kind of seem to confirm all the work that you were putting in before. What do you think has been the key of that work that you were putting in before, maybe not getting results immediately, but now that work is paying off? What work are you talking about?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I mean, I was for sure working very hard, and frustrated that the results weren't there for quite few months. Sometimes you work hard, you want it so much, that doesn't help you. It's hard to explain, but I felt like for a moment I was working hard, I was putting all the effort out there. The time that I had to go and compete, I wanted it too much. I was getting frustrated too early. At the end I couldn't let the racquet talk.

I feel like now, after that experience, I managed to stay a little bit calmer and to just go and compete, probably have less expectations. I'm always, like, there and always so pumped. I'm just knowing myself a little bit better now, finding ways to compete and not let that energy and that desire, too much desire, get in the way probably.

Q. On court it seems like you're just as focused and intense as you were in the past. Off court when you approach the tournaments, you seem more relaxed. I don't know. I can't see much through a TV screen. Is that how you feel? Do you feel like it's just a matter of time, an issue of maturity, a change in the head?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I feel it's an issue of maturity. I think that's a good way to put it. Tennis players never relax, no matter which round, which tournament. I feel like now I approach different. I accept the fact that it can go wrong. I'm more open to adaptation, to uncertainty.

I think, yeah, with the years you start to have an easier perspective, to not take it too emotional everything. Yeah, honestly, it's a lot about experience.