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ROLAND GARROSMay 28, 2014Garbine MuguruzaPARIS, FRANCE G. MUGURUZA/S. Williams THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please. Q. Congrats. What's your feeling right now? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Very happy. Very excited. It's my biggest win so far, so amazing. Q. What did Serena say to you at the end of the match? GARBINE MUGURUZA: She said that if I continue playing like this, I can win the tournament. I said, I will try, I will try. Q. How does it feel to be able to pull off this sort of win on what is, as I understand it, is not your best surface? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I like clay, also. I have been practicing all my life in Spain, and in Spain we like so much the clay. So I feel really comfortable. Today I had everything really clear. I was really focused, and I knew what I had to do on court, so I think that was the important part. Q. Was there a moment in the match where you suddenly realized you have a great chance here? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yeah, there was a moment in the last games of the match. I was like, Oh, my God, I'm winning set, and then 4‑1 or something like this. I was nervous, but I said, Okay, be calm. She's also nervous. I have the opportunity, so I have to continue like this to, you know, to win. Q. Some of the other younger players who have beaten Serena this year have said when they stepped on the court, no, they didn't believe they could do it, and then they eventually did it. Did you believe when you stepped on the court today? GARBINE MUGURUZA: I believe ‑‑I was thinking I have chance, I have to play really good, you know, to win. But I played her I think two years ago and was horrible, because I was so nervous. I said, Okay, this time I'm not going to think I'm playing against Serena. I'm going to do what I have to do. That's what I was thinking all the match. Q. I don't know if you checked that next opponent, but there will be another young up on the coming player you are going to be playing in the next round. Do you feel like this tournament or this year is the time for you guys, your younger generation, to make a big achievement? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I think this year there is a lot of young girls that are playing really good. I think is a change now in the top 100, a lot of girls are coming, you know. These things are going to happen, you know, sometime, new generation is going to come, and I think now is the moment. Q. The media guide says Serena is your favorite player. Is that true? How do you prepare to play your favorite, the player you looked up to growing up? GARBINE MUGURUZA: It's very difficult, because since I was a child when I turn on the TV, I see her play. Everything, when I'm practicing, Okay, how Serena serves, how she plays a backhand. I saw like 100 videos of her. But it was really difficult to be able to, okay, be calm, and say, It's another player. But I think I did it, and that was the reason I could play like this. Q. Tennis is very strange. I saw you losing to Kimiko Date, leading 7‑6 in the third, an incredible match. Today you beat Serena Williams. How that can happen in your opinion? How many people are courting you now to play for Venezuela, for Spain, they still talking about this? Have you decided? Have you taken a decision about it? GARBINE MUGURUZA: No, I didn't decide yet, but I'm going to decide in a few months, because I... Q. Depends on money, depends on... GARBINE MUGURUZA: Depends a lot on my family, because we are really separate ‑‑I have a lot of family in Venezuela and a lot of family in Spain. I have to really decide in which part I'm going to spend more time, you know. And, well, about the other question, I think now it's a really important moment for me because I'm still like learning so many things and so many times I'm really irregular. And I think I could do really good matches and really horrible matches, so I need to find a way, you know, to be in the same, you know, feeling every time. Q.  You said that you knew this time around against Serena you just had to come out and do what you had to do. What was that? What was your game plan tactically? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, before the match, I was thinking, I was sitting alone in the locker room, I said, Okay, I have to be aggressive. I have to hit hard before she do it to me, because then I'm going to run so much. I said, I'm going to do this, I'm going to serve. From the moment in the warmup I'm going to, you know, like hit hard and be aggressive. And play also like really in the middle, you know, strong. Q. Did you ever surprise yourself how well you were playing and how well the match went? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I'm surprised that I played really good, you know, against her and with all the crowd that was like supporting ‑‑well, Serena and me also. So it's different situation. I'm not used to it to play like on center courts against these people. I'm surprised that I did it today, you know. Q. The big win at the Australian Open over Caroline and before that you had the big win in Hobart. I mean, talk about how much maybe the start of your season. Did that kind of help reset and set your expectations and goals for this season? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I went to the first season in Australia really prepared because I was injured last year. I was really happy, you know, to be able to play again. It was really important for me to, in the first month, to win these matches and to win a tournament, you know, gave me a lot of confidence. And I think now I believe more in me, you know. In these matches I'm like more calm, because I know that I can play good. So this is what makes me like be ready, you know. Q. When and where did you begin tennis? The other question is what other great achievements before today? GARBINE MUGURUZA: I started in Venezuela with my brothers, because I have two brothers, they're older than me and they helped me start to play. And my best achievement was Hobart, of course, to win a tournament before everything of last year that was terrible. Q. Who are the best Venezuelan players that you remember?  Do you remember Jorge Andrew? Nicolás Pereira, of course. GARBINE MUGURUZA: In girls I know Maria Vento and Milagros Sequera, I know these two. Q. Have you ever met them? GARBINE MUGURUZA: I met Vento, but not Milagros Sequera. Q. When you were a kid, where were you looking on TV? Who was your idol? GARBINE MUGURUZA: When I was a child? Q. Yes, before Serena. GARBINE MUGURUZA: Martina Hingis. Q. Very different. GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yes, very different (laughter). Q. Congratulations. Obviously it's a big victory. How can you go to sleep at night, this evening? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Um, really happy, of course. I want to keep calm, you know. The tournament ‑‑I need to play more matches, you know. So after I will celebrate everything I have to celebrate, and now I want to be serious and calm, don't get really excited. But of course really happy. Q. To beat the player you so admired on center court in Roland Garros, you're so young, is this a bit of a dream for you? GARBINE MUGURUZA: A dream. Well, I believe that I can, you know, win Serena one day, you know, but of course it's a dream, you know. Since I was a child, I thought, Oh, I want to play against Serena on center court, and today was the day, and I think I did very good. Yeah, it's kind of, yeah. Q. Not only did you beat Serena, but you beat Serena fast. I mean, this match barely took over an hour, 6‑2, 6‑2. Did you ever think at some point it was going to change and she might have, start a comeback, or were you just hoping you could keep your momentum going until the finish? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, I knew the match was going to go fast, because she plays really fast and I play really fast. I was thinking that if I don't ‑‑if I change the way I was playing, then she will begin to feel better, you know, and turn around the match. But I said, Okay, this is my chance. I'm going to continue doing the same no matter what happened. Yeah. Q. Can you just update on what your training situation is these days? Where do you train and base yourself? Is it still in Spain or Florida? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, normally it's in Spain. Yeah. Normally. Q. You said clay is one of your favorite surface, but I think once you said you prefer like hard court or like a fast surface. So now do you think that clay is your favorite surface or it could be hard? GARBINE MUGURUZA: I still think that hard is my favorite surface, because most of the calendar is in hard and I practice much more in hard. As I said before, clay, for me, is like, you know, I played all my life. So I feel really comfortable. Yeah. But it's still hard. Even grass, but hard. Q. You would be even more popular since today but where are you more popular right now, Spain or Venezuela? I'd like to know. And what do people ask you when they stop you? Do you have to sign autographs? Do you go free in some discotheque? GARBINE MUGURUZA: I'm not popular. Q. Not at all? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Not at all. But prefer like this (smiling). No, normal. Normal. Q. You could play Venus Williams in the next round. You could. Are you happy you won't play against her? GARBINE MUGURUZA: If I'm happy ‑‑what? Q. You are happy you won't play against Venus? How well do you know Schmiedlova? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, happy? I mean, of course, Venus is a great player. Q. Is Schmiedlova a better opponent for you? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Better opponent? Has less name than Venus, but, you know, every match here in a Grand Slam, you're so nervous. I mean, today I was really nervous. Today you go to the court thinking, Okay, I don't have nothing to lose, I'm playing against No. 1 in the world. You don't have expectations. But the next round is really the difficult one, because, you know, everybody is thinking, Oh, she just won a really good match. Now you have to win. So the next match is really difficult, and I don't care who I'm playing, you know. THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish. Q. Where was your father born? GARBINE MUGURUZA: The province Guipuzcoa. Q. Was it the village of Eibar? Because there are many villages in that province. More seriously, can you tell us what you're feeling right now? GARBINE MUGURUZA: I'm very happy, because it was probably one of my best matches today, and I had the opportunity of winning. I took this opportunity. I felt very good. I knew exactly what I had to do since the very first minutes. Q. So you were calm because you knew exactly what you had to do. What changed between Australia and now? What changed for yourself? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, many things. Many things. I never played on such a big court before. I never won any match in a slam against her. So that was totally new. Before I felt very small, but today I thought, I'm not going to feel very small. Q. The other day you said the key was to forget about the respect you have for Serena. GARBINE MUGURUZA:  Yes, well, I don't mean I want to be disrespectful, but I have to consider that she's a player just like any player that I can play good tennis, and I can win. When I lose, if I am to lose, it's because I don't play well and not because I didn't try enough. Q. What did you feel when Serena said, Keep up playing like this and you might win the tournament? GARBINE MUGURUZA: That was a wonderful feeling. I'm so happy she said that to me. But I have to take it as a very fair play message of congratulations. Q. You had excellent results this season, but in the past you were not that regular. Why is that? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, mostly because I lack experience. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by my emotions, and that prevents me from playing well. But as you gain in age and maturity and experience, you get calmer and you increase in regularity. This is what I need to work on most. Q. Serena had won 288 matches in Grand Slam. And you're the first one defeating her. That must help you build your confidence. GARBINE MUGURUZA: Well, said like this, I'm very happy I was the first one beating her in these conditions. Q. You analyzed Serena's game before you walked on the court. Did you know exactly how to play against her? Had you worked out a tactic, a strategy? GARBINE MUGURUZA: I have been following her career for quite a while. As I said, she's been my favorite player since I was a kid. So when you watch someone play, you know exactly what you need to do to defeat her. But once you are there on the court, you need to do it, and today I did. Q. Is this your most beautiful day as a professional tennis player? And second question, after this victory, do you think you will have a lot of pressure on your shoulders? And do you know if you'll play for Spain or Venezuela? GARBINE MUGURUZA: It's totally not the most beautiful day in my life as a tennis player. It's my most beautiful victory. But I have experienced very powerful, very emotional moments, more emotional than today when you fought for long hours, even when you lose a match it was better than today. At the moment, I have no pressure from any country at the moment. After this win maybe they will start putting pressure on me, but at the moment I don't know, and I don't want to think about it. Q. You're talking about October/November to make a decision? GARBINE MUGURUZA: Yes, October/November, so I decide on my career for next year. I want this to be decided upon. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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