Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues, who lost a close quarterfinal to world No. 1 Serena Williams, 6-3, 0-6, 7-5, discusses her mental ups and downs during the contest.
“I was a little bit doubtful at the beginning of the match because I’m not used to these kind of sceneries,” Medina told reporters in Madrid. “They are really big courts and the opponent is really tough. They’re players that if they start playing good, they start playing better and better. You also have the pressure to know that if I don’t manage to beat her some points, you won’t be able to keep up with her. If she’s loose out there in the court, well, on paper she’s much better than me. You start thinking you cannot win the match. You start to think it is going to be a catastrophe.
“The match went pretty well until 3-3 when they changed the balls. Afterwards in the 5-all (in the third set) I was serving with new balls, which I hated. It’s an error. For her the ball moves faster; you have less control. Well, when you are playing out there with her face to face, there is a little bit more tension than when you’re playing out in the club or Court No. 15 where nobody is looking at you, and not in a court like this that everyone is looking at you. Being nervous, normally you’ve got some butterflies. Today I had butterflies in my stomach, but in the end I enjoyed it.”