Garbine Muguruza was at a loss for words trying to describe her emotions after the heartwarming standing ovation she received on court following her loss to Serena Williams in the 2015 Wimbledon final on Saturday.
The 21-year-old, who will rise to a career-high No9 in the world after her efforts at SW19, even had Williams on her feet after pushing the world No1 late in the second set before falling to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat.
“I couldn’t stop crying,” Muguruza said of the moment the crowd rose to their feet.
Serena to Muguruza: “Don’t be sad. You’ll be holding this trophy very soon, believe me. You’re a great champ” pic.twitter.com/fxr33OulKL
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2015
“So many people are clapping. I don’t know. I make all these people feel this in a tennis court? I felt special. It’s difficult to explain.
“I think they saw in me that I really wanted to win, that I give everything to tennis.”
Muguruza had a strong start to the match, benefitting from some nerves from the top seed as she broke serve in the opening game of the match, and went down fighting in the end as Williams proved too strong for the grand slam final debutante.
“I learned that she’s also nervous, even though she played I don’t know how many finals. And she finds the way, being so nervous, to serve and hit winners,” said Muguruza of her lessons learned from her first major final.
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“She’s world No1. That’s what I saw today. I see it every day.
“But if you have to choose who to win (against) or who to lose (to), I would choose Serena.”
Muguruza, the first Spanish woman to reach the Wimbledon final since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario finished runner-up in 1995 and 1996, had won just one single match at the All England Club prior to this past fortnight.
She lost in the first round last year, making her runner-up showing an even more remarkable feat.
“I came here with another mentality from last year because I didn’t like so much grass before, and this year I came here thinking ‘no, I like grass. Seriously, Garbine, you like grass. My game is going to help’. Every day thinking this… you know, it worked!”
