Garbine Muguruza knows how it feels to operate under the microscope.

The reigning Roland Garros champion's sometime contentious exchanges with coach Sam Sumyk have gone viral in the past.

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In Doha earlier this year, a frustrated Muguruza responded to Sumyk's advice by cracking: “I'm trying, so tell me something I don’t know.”

“It seems that you know everything,” Sumyk snapped back.

That was a prelude to this memorable exchange in Indian Wells.

In the aftermath of her Cincinnati semifinal loss to Karolina Pliskova today, Muguruza said she senses the eyes of fans on her each time she calls for a coaching visit.

"It's funny, because every time we are on-court coaching everybody is like, 'What's going to happen?' I feel like all the eyes," Muguruza told the media in Cincinnati. "I don't know. He has to come in a very difficult situation and everybody looks at that moment and takes conclusions. Ah, for sure, blah, blah, blah."

Conceding match-stress can make her more volatile, Muguruza says sometimes the pair spar, but she believes that's a normal part of the process and their relationship.

"It's funny because he has to come and I'm like pissed," Muguruza said with a smile. "He has to somehow find a way to make me better. So sometimes there is like a fight. But I think that's fine. It's normal. It means that I'm there. Well, after everything is different, but that moment is, you know, like that."

Interestingly, some of the third-ranked Spaniard's best results have come at majors where on-court coaching is prohibited. Muguruza toppled top-ranked Serena Williams in the French Open final this year after falling to Williams in the Wimbledon final last year.

Asked if she and Sumyk ever considered staging an argument "to give Twitter a chance to explode," Muguruza said the raw emotion she sometimes shows during those coaching exchanges is authentic and is a sign she cares.

"I don't know why it's like this. I mean, not this time," Muguruza said. "I've always been doing the on-court coaching and I say what I feel. If I'm mad, I show I'm mad; if I'm happy, I show I'm happy. I don't know. Maybe I'm giving a little bit of juicy to the tweeter and to I don't know."

Photo credit: Christopher Levy