MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 24, 2021

Garbine Muguruza

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You've been playing in the Miami Open long enough to play both Crandon Park and Hard Rock Stadium. What are the differences to you? Do you have a preference for one or the other?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I played many more times in Key Biscayne. That was a very special place for me, as it was kind of my breakthrough. But I will support the decision from bringing it here since we have more space and the tournament can grow more.

But I do feel that playing on the beach makes it more fun and beautiful.

Q. Was it an easy decision for you to make the trip to the U.S. to play this tournament? On the men's side, a lot of top players decided it wasn't worth it to play one event. What made you make your decision that you made?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, well, I mean, if I think like that, not many tournaments make sense, right? Why do you have to play?

Miami is a very special tournament for me. If I have the chance, I always want to play not only because it's a big event, it's just because I love it here. The energy, being in Miami, Latin America, it's a very special tournament for me.

As I said before, it was kind of my breakthrough. Why not? I don't feel like I have nothing better to do at home. I love being here.

Q. I believe you are still the tour leader in match wins this year. That's a new stat for you playing this many matches early in the year. How are you feeling with all this winning under your belt? Does it feel different in terms of your confidence or freshness?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I mean, I do feel like I've played a lot, that's for sure. I do feel I have a lot of matches under my belt. But it's positive. Of course, I have a good win/lose record. I think is the right way to feel, the right way to work.

So happy more than anything, just happy to be able to continue and keep playing tournaments, to not stop too much.

Q. Your last time out you won Dubai. Now it's a couple weeks later. How did you spend your downtime since then? Did you get to go home to Switzerland or come straight to Miami?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I actually did a quick stop in Madrid, in Spain. Yeah, very short. So then I came early to Miami. I wanted to enjoy also some free time here because I love it, just to reconnect with the Latin people, I don't know, see a couple of friends, have nice trainings in the beach. Yeah, not a lot of free time, I would say.

I was very excited to come back pretty quickly to Miami.

Q. Does it feel different to play in Miami this year without having had Indian Wells before? Everyone is usually tired in Miami, wanting to get back to Europe. How different does it feel this year as a standalone tournament?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: As I've been playing a lot recently, it kind of is not that different. Yeah, no, I don't feel there has been a big change. I'm actually excited to be here. I've only played once, of course, because last year we couldn't play this Miami Open. Just looking forward to play here, try to do better than the last time I played.

Yeah, I don't feel weird or nothing like that, no. I wish Indian Wells have happened. Hopefully they will do it later on the year.

Q. Your game right now, one of the things that we've been noticing is in terms of your service return, just how much more of a weapon it seems to be the start of this year. Where do you think that is coming from in terms of its improvement? Is your positioning better, timing, how you're seeing the serve?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Actually it's all of the things you said. I feel like it's the positioning, I feel like it's the strategy, and also I feel like the courts that I've been playing are pretty fast. It's not like you have a choice. If you want to be an aggressive player, you have to aggress the opponent. With these fast courts, you really have to hit first, dominate.

It's true the return has been key, serve as well, but also to be able to return in the important moments well. Yeah, I feel like I'm working on that since, I don't know, last year I would say.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.