QATAR TOTAL OPEN

March 6, 2021

Garbine Muguruza

Press Conference

P. KVITOVA/G. Muguruza

6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congratulations on a good week in Doha. Just wanted to find out, not having to play a semi last night, did that give you any sort of advantage coming in tonight, or would you rather have had a match last night? Did it affect you at all?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: No, I don't think it affected me. I actually, you know, took the opportunity to recover a little bit after the tough matches that I had.

I just felt out there today such a different condition, you know. Yeah, I couldn't find really my game today.

Today I think Petra also played very well from the baseline, and it was hard to, I don't know, to try to make her move or try to do much.

It was very windy, as well. Yeah, I mean, it really wasn't my day, I guess.

Q. If you had a do-over, knowing how things turned out this evening, is there anything you might have done differently against Petra? I know you've played her a number of times over the years.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah. I mean, I failed probably to do less mistakes, I don't know, try to be more aggressive. You know, I tried certain moments of the match. It didn't go my way. So I struggled a little bit to have a clear game today.

Yeah, I think she was playing well from the baseline. She took advantage of that.

Q. Just looking at that first set, that first break, did you feel after that break when Petra broke you for the first time, did you feel that maybe you probably were rushing to get that break back straightaway, or did you need a bit of time maybe to just compose yourself?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: No, I mean, I knew that the serve was important because she was lefty and she has a big serve. So I wasn't, you know, very anxious about it. It was just trying to stay on the match, try to stay behind her, to not let her go too far in the result.

Yeah, she kept playing well and not missing many shots. She took the advantage.

Q. I suppose, looking ahead now in terms of going forward for the rest of the year, it's still been a very positive week for you in Doha reaching the final. Obviously that run and momentum to the final, are you hoping that carries a bounce into the next tournament now?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I think it's a very good week. I mean, despite today. Because probably out of the matches, I played the less-quality match, but I felt like my level was good, my game was good. So I'm taking a lot of positives even though I'm not holding the champion trophy.

Q. I just wanted to ask you, now that Doha is done, you've got Dubai coming up, how challenging is it doing two tournaments back-to-back like that where you have quality fields in both tournaments and a lot of the same players? Is it difficult now to focus on the next tournament already, just having finished Doha tonight?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, I mean, it's hard. It's hard because I feel like I'm still here but the other tournament already started, you know.

But it's like that. You know, when you have two tournaments back-to-back important, you know that if you do well, then you almost feel like it's a very long tournament, right? Because you finish one but you're starting the other one, so it's like a continuous rhythm of matches.

But, you know, I'm happy to feel that way. I'm happy that I reached the final, that I have to rush now to another tournament.

Q. Congratulations on a fantastic week. You talk about rushing to your next event. You have played four tournaments. It will be your fifth tournament next week. I'm curious, for you, does it feel at all as though the tour has returned to some sense of normalcy? Obviously we are still playing amidst a pandemic, but five events through the first nine weeks of the season for you, do you feel as though you're re-finding some sort of rhythm on tour?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Totally. I feel like this year, I saw the calendar and it's pretty much the same as always except last year. I feel like this year we're starting to be where we left it, kind of.

You know, we have some crowd, we have big big-calendar tournaments, so it is exciting. I do feel like I am competing a lot more so it's great. We love competing. We train hard but you need the tournaments after to go ahead and let the racquet talk.

Q. And I can see the smile on your face when you answered that question, and I think this is something you have been asked about throughout the week, but to have fans here this week, to have that sort of environment, even losing in the final, when you look at your experience for the week, how joyful is it to be back on court in this environment?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: It is very nice. At the end, you know, we play to put a show and to have fans and to have big stadiums full of people. I think that that's the best part of sport, you know, to go out there and feel the crowd. Sometimes it's with you; sometimes it's against you. But that's the competition.

Without them, you know, it's just me and another player in front of me and silence. So we love the fans.