Two-time Grand Slam winner to skip Roland Garros and Wimbledon!
Garbine Muguruza, a former Wimbledon and Roland Garros winner, has declared she will continue her tennis break and will be absent from the clay and grass court seasons this year. Since her defeat by juvenile Czech Linda Noskova in the Lyon Open’s first round in February, the former world No. 1 has not participated in any professional tennis matches. I’m planning to extend this interval until the summer because spending time with family and friends has been so wonderful and healthy. As a result, I will skip the mud and grass season,” she posted on Instagram.
The Spaniard, who had been ranked No. 55 at the beginning of the year, has fallen to No. 132, her lowest position since April 2012.
Muguruza’s troubling decline
The 29-year-old hasn’t experienced victory since September of last year, and in 2023, she’s lost four straight first-round matches, including at the Australian Open, where she placed second in 2020. Though she began the year at No. 3 in the standings, her slump began in 2022 when she failed to advance past the third round of any of the four Grand Slam tournaments. In contrast, her greatest performance at WTA 1000 events was a run to the quarterfinal in Qatar.
She competed in 17 events last year, but she didn’t advance past the semifinals, ended with a 12-17 record, and was knocked out of the top 50 for the first time since 2013.
Muguruza said earlier this year that she was overworking herself and made the decision to rearrange her responsibilities.
“I feel that this year it’s more about keeping it calm and more simple. Last year I put myself under a lot of pressure, telling myself to keep going to stay at the top all the time. That definitely didn’t help me, and it was a bit of a struggle,” she said.
“This year, yes ranking is important – I’ve been at every possible ranking – but that is not my priority anymore. Now it’s about enjoying my time on court and taking the trophies back home, then we’ll see what the ranking is.”
Muguruza at the Prime
Between 2015 and 2021, the Spaniard was at her best. In 2015, she came in second place to Serena Williams at Wimbledon, catapulting her to a career-high position of No. 3 in the rankings.
She defeated Williams in the French Open final the following year to claim her first Grand Slam, and she added a second Grand Slam championship in 2017 after defeating Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final. Later that year, she attained No. 1, and in 2018 she once more advanced to the French Open semifinals.
She regained her best form in 2020 after a brief lull, finishing second to Sofia Kenin at the Australian Open and winning three championships, including the WTA Finals.