TENNIS 2014 ROLAND GARROS – 28th of May 2014. G. Muguruza d. S. Williams 6-2, 6-2. An interview with Garbine Muguruza.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
