Magüi's interview at the beginning of the year 2003.

  (Translation from Diario Canarias 7 (31/03/2003))

Question: I imagine that Estoril will be a beautiful city for you. You have won there your only WTA title so far.

Answer: Besides the win, the city is really beautiful. It has incredible beaches. Now in two weeks I’ll go there to defend my title (she laughs blushed).

Q: What match that you have won has produced you more satisfaction?

A: There’s one I’ll never forget, against Steffi Graf. Since I was a girl she was my idol, my reference point. Playing against her was a privilege, and when I defeated her I couldn’t believe it. I was the whole week on a cloud. Also defeating Mary Pierce, but not in France, in Wimbledon. I had to win to go to the Olympics and she had won Roland Garros two weeks before. The Royal Family was there watching the match. Also unforgettable.

Q: I know you like the Williams’ game, although from outside they look a little bit wild.

A: They are wild. And I’m one of the few players of the circuit they greet nicely. They are very introverted. Now they are less arrogant than when they started, but for me Serena is still arrogant.

Q: To the ones that aren’t professional tennis players it seems great to travel so often. What’s the best thing and the worst thing of that?

A: The best thing is knowing different countries and cultures. To be in places in other way it would be very difficult to visit. The worst thing is that by travelling so often you get tired. Many times we only see the hotels and the training courts.

Q: Recommend a city to visit and another one to live in.

A: To visit, Rome. I loved it. There’s so much to see…It has a lot of culture. And to live in, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It’s clear it’s were I was born, but the weather helps and taking the car and going to the beach...Another city I like a lot is Miami, which is very Latin.

Q: Is it true that your family sacrificed a lot so that you could dedicate to the elite sport?

A: Sure. With 13 years I told my parents that I wanted to go to Switzerland to train with someone that had seen me. I was there nine months and later I went to Barcelona, always with my mother. I take their place and I see that they risked a lot, and that’s a thing that I’m grateful for and I have always in mind the effort they made.

Q: Your brothers and sister Ulpi, Raúl and Palmira have benefitted from their studies to help you now.

A: They help me in many things. I don’t see them as often as I would like, but we are in permanent telephon contact. We are a very close family.

Q: And what about boyfriends?. Confess, I know you like Sampras

A: A shame he got married (laughs). About boyfriends, I always say the same: I have many friends.

Q: What friends do you have in the circuit?

A: It isn’t easy to have a friendship in the circuit. I have a good relationship with the American Meghann Shaughnessy, with Justine Henin, with Kristie Boogert and with the French Sebastien Grosjean, also with all the Spaniards. But my friends are outside the tennis. I consider that better.

Q: How many languages do you dominate?. It’s one of the things people envy the tennis players

A: I can speak English and German, although I have German quite abandoned. You get fluent when  you travel. I got fluent hearing an American speaking Spanish. I laughed because she spoke very bad, but she didn’t matter. I thought, if she can, I can also. I learnt a lot translating songs.

Q: What we envy the most is another thing...

A: What?

Q: Money.

A: We don’t earn that much. The men earn more, but the women…You have a very good ranking or you don’t earn that much.

Q: You are fan of la Unión Deportiva, but also a little bit of Barcelona. They gave you a shirt of Barcelona in their Centenary.

A: Ufff, Im fan of Las Palmas, but I’m not fan of Barcelona. They gave me a shirt with Magüi on the back, but I’m more of Real Madrid. Ronaldo, Zidane, Raúl…

Q: “I’m shy and happy”. Explain this binomial.

A: At first I’m quite shy. It takes me a lot to open, but later normal. I’m a happy person. I’m laughing the whole day, always trying to smile.

Q: How much do you spend in clothes?

A: I don’t know. I like buying, but I’m not one of those who are the whole day buying clothes.

Q: And on phone?

A: Quite a lot. I call a lot from abroad.

Q: Tell me the best moment that a fan has given to you.

A: There are lots of them. In England a boy gave me a CD of Gloria Estefan, and I like her a lot, signed from her with a dedicatory for me. It was very nice. For my birthday I received many greetings through the Internet, and one was from a Canarian girl telling me that when I played here the Fed Cup I gave a cap to her sister and that I had signed her the following day in a very nice way and she told me she would never forget it. These are things that move you. And there are other things. At Christmas I recorded a TV Programme and I was with Manolo Vieira. He told me he had spent many nights awake just to see me play. I was very proud of that.