US OPEN

September 3, 2021

Garbine Muguruza

Press Conference

G. MUGURUZA/V. Azarenka

6-4, 3-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Could you please give us your thoughts on the match and a successful week.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, agree, very successful. I think I had tough opponents right away since first round, very challenging. Today, you know, happy because it was a very tough match. I was facing Victoria, she had so much success in this tournament. I feel like she was comfortable in this court, in these conditions. Yeah, was very pumped for the match.

Started very well. Got that first set. Then I feel like in the second set lost my momentum a little bit. She also came up with great shots.

Yeah, in the third set I managed just to be there again and go for the match a little bit. When you face these types of opponents you cannot wait, you have to go to get the win. I felt I did it.

Happy that it's actually first Arthur Ashe win after almost 10 years. It's kind of funny, yeah (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It hasn't always been the easiest tournament for you. Do you think the calmness that you've approached the tournament with this year has made a difference? You seem not relaxed, but kind of chilled out more than maybe in the past.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, I think so. The past years I was very -- in Spanish we say you're a little bit cross, your brain is a little bit not working very well. I felt, yeah, I don't know, negativity was more than positivity in the previous years.

This year, I don't know, I just prepared well and say, Hey, at some point it's going to change, this might be the year.

Yeah, I feel also having went through those couple of first tough matches gave me also the feeling that, Hey, I can do well here. I think going through the first rounds always gives you that confidence. In the previous years I didn't manage to go through those opening rounds.

Q. The first round was tight, tough opening draw. Today with Vika. Coming through those matches, do you go into the second week battle-tested as opposed to rolling through the first week?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, I think what you said, it's true. Makes a lot of sense. I feel when you start the tournament with tough matches and you go through them and you get the wins, that gives you this little confidence. Every round it's getting more complicated so you need that extra confidence that every win gives you.

Yeah, I think I am in a good situation to go to second week.

Q. Barbora Krejcikova, you played a couple times this year. She was not in the top 100 this time last year. What do you make of her as an opponent and what she's accomplished over this past year?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, it's quite shocking, no, how much it happened for her in the last year. Yes, we've played twice. I know her game. She has way more confidence now after winning a slam. I can feel it in her shots.

We just played recently in Cincinnati and it was a very tough match. We are 1-1. Looking forward. It's a good round of 16. It's one of the hottest players right now, so good. That's the players I want to face.

Q. Can you think of any players who changed their position on tour so dramatically the way she has?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I mean, she might be. Who else? Maybe Andreescu also had a big impact, not all of a sudden, but really big compared to before. I don't know who else. I'm a little bit lost in the rankings now.

There are some players that they start playing well, they get their confidence, they're fearless. Especially at the beginning because you're like, hey, I'm here, I have nothing to lose. That gives you that extra, Let's go for it, yeah.

Q. How much have you been paying attention to the draw? Simona looked at the order of play and said every match is a semifinal. What do you think that says about this tournament?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I feel like her, honestly. She also had tough matches. Yeah, I feel like there is so many good players that maybe your seeding, it doesn't really matter because you are a Grand Slam champion and you're facing today - I don't know what ranking Vika is - but it's like third round and we are facing already each other.

Yeah, I do feel like her, that every match is very difficult. Yeah, it's a Grand Slam.

Q. How have you handled the times where you are the favorite not just in singular matches but over a long stretch of time, everybody expects you're supposed to win every match versus times you thought you were the underdog? How have you managed the pressure of being a player who is expected to win?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, I've went through it. I felt good and I felt bad and I felt good and I felt bad. At the end I find my balance.

At the beginning I felt like, Okay, this is great, I like this pressure, I want to be here. Then when you don't feel maybe that confident, you're like, Oh... It's not in your favor, you feel all that pressure, you might be a little bit down. Then you find your balance.

It's always a tricky thing to manage success, all these eyes on you, all of that. You go through phases. After I think you find a little bit your way and your calmness about it.

Q. At the end of the match you were very excited. You looked radiant. Was it the fact that it was a win on Arthur Ashe or the fact you just won that match to go into the second week?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I feel it was both. I feel it was a combination of playing on that court, having a few losses over there, didn't had my best feeling. Also doing it against a good opponent in a good round. It was sunny. I was just like, Okay, this might be the day where I can get this win.

Yeah, that's why I was very excited.

Q. You mentioned seeing a difference in Barbora's game. Can you describe that and what it is that she does so well?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, she's very talented. She's a great doubles player. She has a great touch, great hands. She brings a lot of variety into the game.

It's just a lot of confidence, meaning that you can see in some shots the way she hits, just some game plan, it might be very aggressive and have success. That's when you're kind of confidence.

I feel also maybe the belief in yourself. Once you prove to yourself that you can do that, then you have a little different attitude. So, yeah, I feel that a little bit.

Q. I notice a mental change when you lost the second set today. I'd like to think that you are more mature, or you think you're going to be more mature? It happened today, it may not happen tomorrow. Then how do you explain it also that all the seeds are going through this time in the women's tournament when normally doesn't happen anymore or didn't happen anymore?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I feel like I'm handling better when it's not going my way. I do feel it's not something that is just happening today and tomorrow not. I feel it's been already going since the last maybe couple of years. I think that's also a little bit mature, a little bit more experience, a little bit going through good and bad. I do feel like I handle myself a little bit more. I'm more kind with myself, less hard on those moments.

I mean, yeah, normally there is more surprises in the draw. But I feel this year everybody is playing well. There is a very strong field no matter what's your seeding. I feel like every round you're always in danger. You got to bring good, you got to bring your best tennis. If not, I feel like you just go home.

So, yeah, I got to be very prepared.