Garbine Muguruza: "Always when I come to Madrid I think, I'll play well"

Garbine Muguruza will be one of the biggest favorites to win the title at the 2021 Madrid Open as she enters the draw as tenth-seeded.

The experienced Spaniard will be trying to win her first trophy in Madrid as she'll be facing a very difficult first-round test against Sloane Stephens. Garbine Mugurza had a really good start of the year, and she'll try to continue also during the clay swing. During the press conference in the Spanish capital, she said:

“I’ve arrived earlier than normal to try and adapt to the technical differences in Madrid”, Garbiñe said, hoping to perform in front of her home fans. “I’ve tried to adapt as well as possible”.

“It’s an accumulation of things. Maybe the expectations I put on myself of wanting to do well. Maybe my game hasn’t come together so I can arrive at the tournament better prepared. Will this be the year I play well? I always think that when I come here. Hopefully, this year is better”.

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“There was a change when I was having a very hard time on court. I realised that there was no need to punish myself so much and have a hard time”, she recognised. “And I told myself to let whatever happens happen. I’ve been working on that for a while. I’m the first person to put myself under pressure and have high expectations of myself, it got to a point that it was affecting me so much that it was working against me. I told myself ‘I’m going to play the way I have to play. If I train well, my moment will come”, she explained.

“It was simply a case of lowering my expectations, being humble when things don’t go my way. I took everything very hard. Now I’m more relaxed in that respect, not so worried about playing well or badly. I can have a bad day and I don’t lose control of my emotions. Now I accept it and deal with what I have. In that sense, I channel it now”.

“Every year I’ve come here, I’ve played very good matches and a few have slipped through my fingers. I will be happy if I go far in the tournament. I’ve played well in previous years, I’ve had matches decided with 7-5 or 6-4 in the third set. I’ve drawn tough matches. I don’t remember exactly what my best result is here but I haven’t got very far. I’ll try and get far in the tournament, of course”.