Friday, March 7, 2025

Marcos Giron

Press Conference

M. GIRON/C. Ruud

7-6, 3-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Congrats, Marcos. This is your biggest career win against world No. 5, Casper Ruud. How are you feeling after this?

MARCOS GIRON: Thank you. I said it after the match, but it's special, especially -- I mean, to beat a top-5 player in the world, yeah, my first time, is amazing, but then to be able to do it here at home is even better.

So, yeah, with family, friends, this is a tournament I came to when I was younger, seeing Federer, Nadal, I mean, Novak, Wawrinka, all those guys growing up.

So I remember watching on Stadium Court, Stadium 1, Stadium 2, and just seeing them all, and to actually be able to go out there and play, and to beat a top-5 player here is really amazing.

I've been playing good tennis. I feel like every year I've gotten better. This year I've been playing the best tennis of my career, and so that helps, you know, give me the belief that I could do it. I've beaten Casper before. It's been a couple years, but of course nothing's guaranteed. So to be able to do it is amazing.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You talked about doing it at home. As a Californian playing here, I mean, how is it different playing here versus other parts of the States, and also, do you feel extra pressure? You're probably looking at the crowd and seeing familiar faces or hearing familiar voices. I'm curious how you experience that.

MARCOS GIRON: Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, this place holds a lot of memories and a lot of emotion. Yeah, it was the first tournament I ever went to. When I was younger I didn't ever really travel to watch tournaments. Then it was my first ATP breakthrough in 2019. Qualified, won two matches here, lost to Raonic in three. So that was a high.

The last couple years I came here maybe with expectations, maybe yes, maybe no, some pressure, and I didn't play well. That was very disappointing and it sucked to not perform here at home.

But, yeah, of course there's a lot of family, there's a lot of friends, trying to organize tickets and all that, give everybody the time they deserve is amazing and it's special, because it's special. This is not something I can do forever. So I know each kind of moment is I've got to make the most of it.

But again, I'm here for the tournament, for the job, and I love it, but I want to perform. So to be able to do it -- and this was actually a big goal of mine this year to do. I feel like I've been able to kind of try to put on the side a little bit better and just stick to how I play, how I compete, and problem-solve better than I have in the past.

Q. You were mentioning when you were a kid and growing up with this tournament, do you remember ever getting autographs from a favorite player or any particular stories?

MARCOS GIRON: You know, actually, I've never been one to get autographs. I always felt a little weird doing it, as funny as it is.

Yeah, even, first time I remember seeing Federer, I was, like, whoa, that's Roger. He was like an entity. I don't know. And Rafa and all them.

But I just, I have such a vivid memory of practice Court 1 here and watching Rafa absolutely annihilate the ball. It kind of opened my eyes, holy smokes, how big they were hitting.

Also, I didn't know Wawrinka at the time, I forget who he was playing, but he was just blasting winners on Stadium Court. I came with one of my childhood friends that I played tennis with, and it was, like, whoa, this is insane, and how good everybody is.

Those are kind of two memories that are very vivid. So, yeah, of course I remember seeing Delpo absolutely nuke forehands across, which is also fun.

No, I was never one to -- of course when I see somebody famous, okay, wow, that's who they are. But I was never one to get autographs or ask for pictures. I don't know why. It just didn't feel natural to me.

Q. How much different would you say you are as a player and as a person even from the guy who went through quallies in 2019 and faced Raonic?

MARCOS GIRON: Oh, it's crazy. I think who I am, my soul and personality is still very similar. I was always, I don't know, like, of course competitive, but I think I've always enjoyed tennis. I've enjoyed the competition. I enjoyed growing.

You know, I love it. But I think my game has evolved a lot since then. I think I've got a lot more weaponry. Yeah, and I guess also more belief.

At that point in time I was kind of trying to convince myself that I had the level. And winning matches maybe that I didn't necessarily know that I could do before, but I was able to do at that point. But then now I've been top 100 for the last five years, and I've been playing only ATP events. So this is kind of the level in terms of the guys I've been competing against week in, week out for the last five years.

So it gives me a lot more belief. I have a lot more, you know, top-level wins. This is my best win on ranking. So it's amazing here at home and everything, but I do have more belief in my ability.

There's a little bit of peace that comes with that, which is nice.

Q. Just going back to what you were talking about, did it make it even more interesting when you got on tour and those guys you were watching just crush the ball and you were around them every day, that sort of thing, and does that make this tournament, do you think about it more here because you have those memories?

MARCOS GIRON: For sure. For sure. I guess it's kind of always been my personality a little bit, like, I probably, in a weird way, I maybe have almost too much respect for everybody else. And I think it's a good thing. It makes me who I am.

But I think in part at the beginning it made me not believe in myself as much as it should and really know that I actually can do some incredible things on court. Of course, do I have massive accolades? No, but I still know that I have a tremendous level.

But it's amazing kind of being in the area and being in the arena now, again, competing since college the last 10 years but really being on the tour for the last 5, 6 years, and just kind of being around this and seeing all the firepower and the amazing things that all the pros do, the top-level guys do.

It's pretty fun, pretty cool to be able to try and beat them. Whenever you can, it's very satisfying and it's a cool thing. It's a wonderful thing to experience. But it kind of makes you want to shoot for more, as well.

It's amazing. It's just so finite. You feel amazing one day and you have a great win but then all of a sudden tomorrow is an entirely new thing. So you have to prove yourself every day.

Q. Did you play any junior tournaments here or college meets or anything like that?

MARCOS GIRON: Never. The first time I ever played here was -- I played a lot of tournaments in the desert. Like every year I kind of had the Easter Bowl, and so I won it in 18s and I finaled it in 16s Easter Bowl, but that was played at Rancho Las Palmas. So not here.

The first time I ever got here -- actually, the first time ever watching here was probably 2009. So I wasn't even -- I wasn't that young, but that was the first time I ever came here. Then playing was qualifying, I got a quallies wildcard, and that was the first time actually competing here.

Q. You had some health issues maybe 2017?

MARCOS GIRON: Yeah, end of 2015, beginning of 2016.

Q. Couple of hip surgeries. What's been your secret? It seems like you've been healthy for the majority of these last five, six years. I'm sure you have your issues we don't know about but for the most part it seems like smooth sailing. Is there any secret or have you learned to manage your body over time that makes you stay healthy?

MARCOS GIRON: Yeah, of course it's crazy to think about, but yeah, that was almost 10 years ago, 9, 10 years ago. So I think the fact I had hip surgery then, it was tough, but I think it was also early on, so I think having that at that point really was able to help extend my career versus maybe trying to go longer and longer without it, that would have done more damage.

So I think in a sense it was a blessing. And I've been, yeah -- knock on wood -- but I've been really fortunate with being able to be healthy. You know, the worst thing that can happen as an athlete really is getting injured and getting this taken away from you and not being able to compete. There are so many guys that are so good at tennis and been injured, and it's just brutal to come back.

I think that's one of the things I'm actually very proud of and lucky at the same time with trying to be able to be healthy.

But yeah, I think I have gotten, you know, I have gotten to know my body well and to know, okay, when it's time to rest a little bit more. I do need to rest a bit more than maybe I did five, six years ago, but it's also helpful to know when I can push and when I can relax a little bit. And also I think everything kind of comes with it, with itself, having more belief in yourself, knowing what to expect, all the traveling, all the different surfaces, and kind of keep learning.

Hopefully, yeah, hopefully I can stay healthy.