US OPEN

September 1, 2021

Garbine Muguruza

Press Conference

G. MUGURUZA/A. Petkovic

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Can you just give us your thoughts on the match, and now after two wins in the opening week, as you continue forward.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Very happy. Very happy to get this win. I'm excited to be in third round. It's very important for me.

It was just a weird match. I mean, Andrea and I, we have spent so many times, so many hours on court, so many hours on court together training. We know each other a lot. It's one of the nicest persons on tour.

I don't know. I just felt that it was difficult at some point to play, because, you get along well, but happy with my level. I think I played a very solid match from the beginning until the end.

Yeah, I guess that's it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How have your feelings on the US Open surfaces and in the atmosphere evolved over the years that you have played here?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I think it's a learning process. I feel now I enjoy more to be here. I feel like I know more the surface. I know more how to manage, how to handle everything.

You know, just to reset every time I come here, just to be more positive. You know, it always has an effect when you go somewhere and for whatever reason you don't feel comfortable in it, but I feel like I proved myself many times that even though if some tournaments didn't go well at the beginning, you can come one year and play well and finally break through that wall.

You know, my goal is just to keep bringing this good level and this energy, and I think that's the way that one day I'm going to be able to go further.

Q. It's possible in the next round you'll play Vika, who has done very well here over the years, of course. What are your thoughts about where she is in her career and the challenge she poses if she's your next opponent?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, I think it's going to be a very difficult match. I think she always plays great here. I think she has three finals.

You know, I'm so looking forward for those type of matches. I think I had two tough matches now, and if I have to play her it's going to be another one.

I think that's the best, just to go out there and play with people that are top level.

Q. What are your observations of the way she's playing in recent times, and what she's overcome to get to this level?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I mean, I think it's great. I think she's a great player no matter, you know, what's her status. If she's playing amazing or if she's not being on tour, I feel she's always a dangerous player, because if you played great you can always play great again.

Yeah, she's one of the best players out there.

Q. It was a nice moment at the net with you and Andrea. I was wondering if you could share with us what you shared back and forth.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: She was just congratulating me. She told me that I played a great match and that, you know, to keep playing like that and to go further in the tournament, which is nice. We get along very well, and, you know, unfortunate we couldn't both go further (smiling). Yeah.

Q. Just the first two rounds, how are you feeling with your game and how are you feeling physically? What's the vibe?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: For now, we are taking it a little bit maybe less stressful than other years. I felt I always took so seriously and so concentrated and so, so, so too much that at the end you get the opposite.

And so since the first round it was so difficult, that I am, you know, ready. I'm ready to go out there and I feel well physically. I feel like today I played better than the first day. My goal is just to bring this energy back as much as I can for the next one.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the speed of the courts. There has been a lot of discussion about whether they are faster this year or the same as before. How have you found them?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I always find them fast, especially there are certain courts are even faster. Yeah, but I always feel US Open is a fast court. And I don't feel this year it's incredibly faster than last year, for example, but it really depends on which court you play. So that's the tricky part, that you don't know how the court is going to be unless you have practiced before there.

Q. Are the outside courts faster than Ashe and Armstrong, et cetera?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, in my previous experience, I know that Court 17 is always a fast court, faster than any court in here. Arthur Ashe seems faster than Louis Armstrong too. That's what I felt.