Muguruza has potential to reach the top

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Garbine Muguruza will face Serena Williams in Saturday's Wimbledon final.

    Twenty four hours before playing the biggest match of her career – the Wimbledon final against Serena Williams – Garbine Muguruza walked into the main media centre at the All England Club and charmed the socks off everyone in the room.

    The Venezuelan-born Spaniard boasts a big game with an even bigger personality – a winning combination that has taken her into the world’s top 10 (she’ll be No 9 on Monday if she loses the Wimbledon final, or No 6 if she wins) and could very much keep her there for many years to come.

    Heading into the tournament, Muguruza did not think she could do well on grass.

    Although she had the game for it, the 21-year-old had struggled with the different bounce and change in movement the surface requires.

    That makes the way she has stormed through the draw this fortnight all the more remarkable, especially with her sustaining
    her aggressive game against some of women’s tennis’ toughest ball retrievers like world No 5 Caroline Wozniacki or world No 10 Angelique Kerber.

    While we’ve had our fair share of surprise female grand slam finalists in recent years – most recently Lucie Safarova at the French Open – there are several reasons why Muguruza breaking through this Wimbledon is particularly great news for the WTA.

    Unlike others who have had one-off big tournaments, Muguruza is a player who has been steadily making noise at the majors over the past 18 months.

    This Wimbledon presents the fifth time she has made the second week of a major, in her last seven slams, which makes it hard to think this fortnight is a fluke.

    – Novak Djokovic into final in straight sets
    – Serena Williams powers into Wimbledon final
    – Garbine Muguruza reaches Wimbledon final

    At a time when the world No 1 is 33, and the average age of the top-10 is 27, it is refreshing to have a 21-year-old in the finals at Wimbledon.

    She is one of only five WTA players born in the 1990s to have made a grand slam final – alongside Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki and Eugenie Bouchard – but unlike her contemporaries, you are almost certain that Muguruza’s best days are still in front of her.

    Serena said she wasn’t banking on Muguruza getting overwhelmed by the occasion of the Wimbledon final and the American world No 1 was right.

    The first thing you notice about Muguruza is how she does not get intimidated easily and she has always said that she loves playing on the big courts at the biggest tournaments.

    That’s one of the main reasons you can expect her to do well in the future. She’s also a big hit with the media. She speaks her mind – which is more rare than you would think – and projects so much passion when talking about the sport, it really is infectious.

    That raw love for the sport is what you need from the players right now to inspire more youngsters to get into tennis, the same way Rafael Nadal has done over the past decade.

    In Muguruza, the WTA has someone with confidence, strength, ambition and charm – that’s more than anyone could ask for in a future champion. Except that future could very much be today, as she attempts to stand in the way of her rival’s ‘Serena Slam’. 

    Recommended