WTA FINALS

November 10, 2021

Garbine Muguruza

Press Conference

K. PLISKOVA/G. Muguruza

4-6, 6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Garbine, very tight match today. What do you think made the difference? Talk us through your thoughts on the match in general, please.

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, that was a very tough match for both of us. I think it was actually one point the difference because we reached the tiebreak and I saved many match points. Man, that was a painful loss definitely.

It's not easy to play here. I actually felt good. I fought as hard as I could. At the end was just one point difference. I'm actually proud of the match I played due to the circumstances. I loved the crowd. Even though I suffered during this match, I also felt very energized and motivated to play in Mexico.

Well, the round-robin keeps going on (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You had the great opening set, your second serve was really effective against Karolina. That started to change as the match progressed. Did you sense she was changing her court position or doing anything different with respect to her return games?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I felt like in the second set, yeah, I didn't serve as good as the first set. At the beginning, I got that break. I think she started to play, I mean, to do things, to serve especially. I think she started to serve well beginning of the second set. That's her biggest weapon. That made the match a little bit tighter. Yeah, she got that second set.

The third one I managed to come back a little bit better. That was the real battle, the third set, yeah.

Q. Yesterday when you were talking about what your practices have been like, getting used to everything, how would you rate how you played in terms of user expectations? Did you surprise yourself and over-perform, under-perform, as you expected?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I don't think I under-perform. I think we trained hard. I kept working very hard since my last tournament to be able to reach here in the best shape, well, get used to the conditions here. We worked hard and had a good game plan. I was very motivated and concentrated in every single point.

So, no, I'm actually proud of my fighting spirit because it was a long match. Yeah, just happy with my performance in general, even though I lost.

Q. On the court the crowd was so behind you. They were looking for reasons to get excited, scream your name. Your thoughts on the atmosphere tonight?

GARBINE MUGURUZA: I knew it that in Mexico and the crowd was going to be like that. Latin people really cheer, they are behind you. In this case they were behind me a little bit more.

When I find out that the Finals were going to be here, I felt very happy because the environment. Because I played here before, I was like, okay, I know it's going to be fun, I know it's going to be people out there. Tennis is something that they don't see every day.

I think this is just a proof that they could make more tournaments here because people are really looking forward.