NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 14, 2022

Beatriz Haddad Maia

Press Conference

S. HALEP/B. Haddad Maia

6-3, 2-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Tough luck today. Brilliant final. You fought so hard. How do you feel?

BEATRIZ HADDAD MAIA: Yeah, it was a really tough match. I think I felt that I was prepare to get the match. I think both of us didn't start very well. It was emotional beginning. Even like that, I was 3-Love up and I couldn't hold the emotions. I couldn't control myself. Simona start to play better, to improve. And, yeah, she deserved the first set.

And then I was trying to find my way to try to be more aggressive. And, yeah, today I think she deserve it. She played better than me. She was more brave.

Tennis is like that: sometimes you win, sometimes we learn. Today, it's a day to learn.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. I know this wasn't the result that you were hoping for today. But obviously it's also a career high for you. How does that feel?

BEATRIZ HADDAD MAIA: Yeah, it feels great. Very happy with what me and my team are making from the last months. I think we are improving a lot every single day. Not even on the matches, but, yeah, outside of the tour when we are practicing. We are taking care of my body. We are doing good things.

So, yeah, I feel happy and I feel motivated to go to the next challenge.

Q. When you were on the court and addressed the crowd, you mentioned it was Brazilian Father's Day and then you switched to Portuguese. For those of us who do not speak Portuguese, what did you say?

BEATRIZ HADDAD MAIA: Yeah, because today is Father's Day and then I dedicate to my father, to my grandfather the trophy. It wasn't the trophy that I wanted. But, yeah, in the normal Sunday probably I would be with my family. I could enjoy them. So I told them to enjoy for me a little bit.

Q. I watched you play today and was something wrong with your first service today? Most of the time you were playing with your first service.

BEATRIZ HADDAD MAIA: I think my mentality today wasn't the way that it was working through the week. When you don't have the right thoughts in the right way, it's not about serving, it's also the forehand, the backhand, everything get a little bit out of the normal because I think the mind control everything.

Today I couldn't control my emotions. So, for sure it's something that if I go to practice, I will feel better. But, yeah, in that moment I couldn't be very in the present to serve well. For sure wasn't happy with that.

Q. You mentioned that you weren't able to control your emotions as well as you would have liked today. But that first set to lose six games in a row and then come back and win the second set, what did you tell yourself to turn it around?

BEATRIZ HADDAD MAIA: Yeah, it's the way I think. I try to forgive myself, even if I miss, if I did something wrong. Even when I lost six games in a row, I think Simona wasn't playing her best tennis also. So maybe she could be nervous as well at this moment.

But I was trying to play more aggressive, to do what my coach told me to do, because we know what was the goal. But I was not doing the right way.

So, yeah, I was just believing that I could improve during the match. I think tennis is a long match, it's not a hundred meters, it's like a marathon. So, yeah, I was just trying to fight and that's why I could get through the second set.

Q. Throughout the week you've talked about the importance of not only representing Brazilians but also women from South America. So what kind of example do you hope to set for the next generation of athletes, especially those young girls in Brazil who might grow up watching and kind of admiring you from afar and watching your matches?

BEATRIZ HADDAD MAIA: Yeah, it's very special to feel the support from all South America people. We had players from Argentina, from another countries also. And we are not a lot of players from there because, you know, it is less like opportunities, it is less tournaments. The tennis, the mentality and the culture are different there. So it's not easy being a Brazilian to play here and to build our tennis level around the tour.

But, yeah, I think one of my goals is not to be in the top but to be in the top and make a difference in someone else life. Now I hope I can help childrens to make their dreams come true, to believe in theirselves. Because if I'm now here top 20, for sure they can be here as well.

So, yeah, I just happy to be this woman and represent everybody there.

Q. This is your first time at this tournament. Did it give you a lot of comfort to see all the yellow soccer jerseys like supporting you in this stage in the final?

BEATRIZ HADDAD MAIA: I didn't understand, sorry.

Q. There were a lot of Brazilians wearing Brazilian soccer jerseys in the crowd. Did it give you any comfort?

BEATRIZ HADDAD MAIA: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think Brazilians are not used to scream for tennis. Sometimes they scream a little bit more. They think they are in a soccer game.

But, yeah, it's funny, because like everybody wants to give me the energy. And I was happy to hear a lot of Bia's, come on Bia, vamos Bia, keep fighting.

So, yeah, it's special to feel that everybody in Brazil is watching on TV. And it's like following tennis because of me. And, yeah, I feel very proud and thankful because of that.