INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

May 16, 2021

Giuliana Olmos

Press Conference

FICHMAN-OLMOS/Aoyama-Shibahara

4-6, 7-5, 10-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congratulations on a fantastic week. Can you just talk a little bit about, yeah, just the journey to this title, of being last-minute entrants, and coming through an incredibly difficult draw in some very tight matches, a lot of third-set deciding tiebreakers in there, and today saving match points to get it done?

GIULIANA OLMOS: Thank you. Yeah, it was kind of an amazing week this week. We were obviously one out. We weren't even in the tournament. I had a feeling someone would withdraw. Someone always withdraws.

Honestly, looking back at the draw, I felt like every match was like a final, like every match was just so tough, which I think makes this win even more special for us.

I think we just had a really good week. Sharon and I have been playing together a lot this year. We have had some good momentum. We had a tough time I think the last couple of weeks. She was coming back from an injury. I had been playing a lot, was kind of tired.

I think we just learned a lot from the last two weeks, last two tournaments. I think this week we were able to make a lot of adjustments in the middle of matches. I think that's why we were able to come back a lot.

I think just in the 10-point tiebreakers we just played really aggressive, and we really trust each other on the court. We just played with a lot of heart and it went our way. I don't know. It was a great week. I'm just really happy that we got in.

Q. In addition to just getting the results, also just kind of the dramatics of kind of how it all played out, you know, having to come and play two matches today. I guess you guys probably weren't told until late yesterday that that match wasn't going to be played and you'd have to potentially do two today. Just talk about just managing all of that as well. A lot of curve balls being thrown your way?

GIULIANA OLMOS: Yeah, yesterday was a very tough day just because we didn't know when we were going to play. We got on at 7:15. We finished around 9:00. We could have played if we wanted to. We had the opportunity. But I think we all just agreed we'd rather play in the morning.

Sharon felt more comfortable in the morning. I could have played. I was ready to go yesterday if I needed to, because I think mentally I was prepared. But I think it was fine. We had a really big win last night, so I think it's also nice we got to enjoy it a little bit.

Today, even though we had two matches, it felt like they were two different days, like when we were going out for the final, I didn't feel like it was still the same day.

I think it helped playing earlier today. We had a little bit of momentum. Kiki and Marketa obviously played really, really well. They're a great team.

I'm just happy we could make adjustments. We played well. I just tried to enjoy having the fans out there, having some people not watching Nadal and watching us (smiling).

But it was fun. I really enjoyed the atmosphere. I really love Rome. I think the food and the people and just the atmosphere here helped bring out some of my best tennis.

Q. Can you just talk about today's match specifically, as well, specifically the final. Obviously they came out and played well in that first set. That second set you started to come back. Then things got a little dicey in terms of being able to close it out and stuff. Can you just talk through what you think they were doing really well in the beginning? They are kind of a newish pairing. Any adjustments you had to make that that paid off, do you think, for both of you in the end?

GIULIANA OLMOS: They are a newish pairing but they are both very good, and I think they are both really good together. We lost a close first set. I don't think necessarily we did anything wrong. I think they just played all around a better set then we did. They served better, returned better. They were able to close out points. I think a lot of times we had points we were in control of and we didn't necessarily win those. So it was just maybe -- I knew I needed to make at least one more return each game and then just close out the points we did.

We had a really good start in the second. I think I kind of let up a little bit. I think I could have been more aggressive at certain moments. Once we went down 4-5, I was kind of upset with myself and I was, like, Okay, that's not working. I need to step it back up again.

I think we did, and we just fought really, really hard. At the end, we knew we just had to play aggressive, and if we wanted to win we had to play to win. That was what we did and it worked out.

Q. What does winning Rome, this massive title in such a magical venue at the Foro Italico, what does all of that mean for you?

GIULIANA OLMOS: I honestly can't believe it. It's so surreal to me. This is probably my favorite city to play in, even before we won.

I played the first time here last year, and I love the city. The food is amazing here. It's just such a great atmosphere. I mean, the courts are amazing. I just love being here.

I think this week -- we have been living in bubbles a lot, and this week we were able to go outside for exercise. So I just got to walk around for two hours a day, which is really nice.

You know, my friends were here, and I think just eating good food, my friends, being in a city I love, it just made me really happy. I was just really happy and grateful to be here this week.

I think that was why we did so well. I don't know. I can't really believe that we won. It's kind of funny to me.

I don't know. I'm just so excited that we won, and this is my first 1000 title. It's so cool, and I think this one is extra special for me just because a few weeks ago I was really burnt out. I didn't really want to be playing tennis. I just have been traveling a lot. The bubbles were getting to me. You know, I took a few days off and I was able to bounce back.

I think learning to manage that was really good, an improvement on my own part. I think that just made this extra special, because I was able to bounce back from a tough spot that I was in and come back and play some great tennis. I'm just happy to be here and happy we could do well this week.