In just two weeks’ time, Garbiñe Muguruza will begin the defence of her Wimbledon title. The Spaniard first has to try to gain some grass confidence here in Birmingham, where she is defending semifinal points from last year, which was the first time she advanced to the latter stages of this event.
In trying to stick a winning formula, Muguruza decided to return to the Edgbaston Priory Club to hopefully lift her first title and she hopes to have a positive week here to set her up for a big couple of weeks at Wimbledon. It is easy to forget that just three years ago Muguruza had never made a Grand Slam final. She was learning to adapt to those big occasions and how to handle them, and now has turned into one of the most efficient big-game players on tour as she saves her best tennis for the Majors, where she thrives. Big names, big courts and the centre stage doesn’t phase Muguruza and she is looking to bring that kind of mentality in some of the biggest weeks of her career as she begins the second defence of a Major, having tried to defend Roland Garros in the 2017 season, reaching the fourth round and losing to Kristina Mladenovic.
Muguruza did a pre-tournament roundtable interview in Birmingham and I asked her how her game has developed since making that first Major final at the 2015 Wimbledon, and what were the key areas in which she has improved the most to become the player she is today and be a regular in the Top 5 in women’s tennis.
“I think physically I have improved a lot, my movement, my physical capacity and my strength and i think it was something I needed time to do it. It wasn’t going to just happen three years ago, because I needed those three years to work hard and get in better condition.”
We’ve seen many players face setback after setback in the early stages of their career at majors and that mental baggage has prevented them from moving forward. A perfect case of just that is Simona Halep, who had come so close on three occasions at the highest level, losing in three Major finals before getting her maiden title at the French Open last month. Muguruza talked about how she truly understood what Halep would have been going through, but at the same time talked openly about being in a great position mentally as she still has plenty of tennis to play in her career and yet has two Grand Slam titles to show for it.
“I think it was such a relief for her (Halep) , because she has done two finals (at French Open) already and they were quite difficult finals. She was in control of the previous final, a little bit, and it slipped away from her and you never know if you are going to be in that position again. She must be very happy.”
“I think it meant a lot because losing that final I did not know if I was going to be here again. In other surfaces you kinda feel like ‘okay’, but with grass, being in a final and winning the title, besides being a Grand Slam, has made me realise I can play on grass and I got the revenge final from two years ago and it is not only one grand slam, it is more and for me it is different and not only one.”
We are witnessing a more mature Muguruza, who understands her strengths and weaknesses far greater than she did at the beginning of her career. Yes, she still stumbles along the way across the season at various events, but she maintains the same belief in what she doing and the process she finds herself in. The process has always been peaking at the right time, for the right events, the big events, the Grand Slams and that will never change. She understands the difficulties of going back as defending champion at Wimbledon but also acknowledges that she’s dealt with it before at the French Open and that has changed her outlook on the situation as she tries to go about her business as if it is a regular Grand Slam event.
“It is very different. It is always going to be difficult to go back as the defending champion, but I think you just have another perspective and I’m not thinking about it too much, I know it is just going to come naturally. It is all about this year. Nothing really matters what happened in 2017 now, so, I don’t know, you take a lot of weight out of it.”
Muguruza does not really share the same enthusiasm for the rankings and where she will find herself in the rankings in the coming weeks and months, but what she does value is gaining those matches to set her up for Wimbledon, where she is one of the contenders. Her first step towards hopefully a fruitful grass court season for her is against the inconsistent, but talented Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the opening round of Birmingham. It is a difficult opener for Muguruza, but with that being said there are no easy draws at this level and the top players have to be on their game from the first match to the last, because of the strength in depth in women’s tennis right now.
Pavlyuchenkova offers a stern test because of how impactful her game can be when it is firing on all cylinders, the issue for the Russian is that that game isn’t on almost quite enough for her to be where she should be in the rankings. Muguruza respected the dangers that a player that a player of Pavlyuchenkova’s quality can provide on even a grass court:
“It is a very tough match. I think we always have tough battles and I think grass is a surface she can play really good as well. But that’s it. I’m not really thinking too much about it.”
