SPAIN’S NET GAIN
Muguruza halts Williams’ dream run in Wimbledon final.
Spending not even a pence of her new 2.2-million-pound winner’s fortune, Garbine Muguruza charmingly coined a new word on Saturday. Tennistically. Liked it so much, the 2017 Wimbledon women’s champion used it twice in the afterglow of her evisceration of Venus Williams.
Sounds like tenacity, which she displayed in spades.
Muguruza was tennistically brilliant seizing the Grand Slam title which had eluded her two years ago, falling victim as ingenue finalist at the All England Club to the other Williams sister, inconsolable then and awash in tears. Tears of jubilation this time. “Is very hard to find a recipe to feel good fitness-wise, tennistically, mentally. In this tournament I put everything together.”
And if the 23-year-old Spaniard could pick a dance partner for the curtainsdown winners’ festivities on Sunday evening? “Roger.”
Giggling: “I want to see if he’s that elegant also dancing.”
Catching herself — because there’s no absolute guarantee Federer will prevail in his bid for a record eighth championship over Marin Cilic — Muguruza quickly added: “I like Cilic.”
She is already the belle of the Wimbledon ball, out-willing, out-hitting, outserving and out-spunking five-time champion Williams on the 20th anniversary of the American’s debut at SW19, 7-5, 6-0. Some lox with that bagel, Venus? With her commanding and eventually lopsided victory over 37-year-old Venus, Muguruza became the only female on the planet to have taken a Slam off both Williams siblings, after last year defeating Serena in the French Open final.
While it was no jaw-dropping surprise that Muguruza hoisted the Venus Rosewater dish on Centre Court — first time a women’s final has been played under the closed roof, which amplified the sound of every pounded ball — the na- ture of this vanquishing over an opponent who’d progressed majestically through the draw was startling. Many wondered if a visibly flagging Williams had suddenly been stricken by a flare-up of the debilitating Sjogren’s syndrome autoimmune illness that was diagnosed in 2011 and which she has been managing ever since.
The question was put to Williams at her post-match press conference but went unanswered. As, indeed, did just about every other question in a session wherein the weirdly disengaged player was various terse and rambling in her comments.
Her response to the Sjogren’s query: “She played top tennis, so I have to give her credit for just playing a better match.” Asked about the physical and emotional fortitude that has allowed her to resurrect dominance on the courts, she said: “I believe that those are not my thoughts or words, that I’m not supposed to be doing this. I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing right now.”
Nobody had suggested otherwise. But Williams — last week reduced to tears and fleeing when questioned about the recent Florida car accident in which she was involved, an elderly passenger in the other vehicle dying — was in a tetchy mood, albeit gracious towards her conqueror.
“Well done today,” she complimented Muguruza courtside. “Beautiful.’’
In 2015, a comforting Serena Williams had assured her gangly opponent that she’d be a Slam champion by and by. “She told me two years ago that one day I was going to win. So here I am.”
It was a fast and furious affair that featured some grinding rallies and fistfuls of botches, most ruinously — 25 unforced errors — by Williams. What had been a closely contested match though most of the first sets — both erratic on their forehands — abruptly tipped towards Muguruza. After finding herself two set points down, a battling Muguruza relocated her serve to hold in the 10th game, Williams netting a forehand on a 19-shot rally. On the second set point, Muguruza held with a gargantuan serve; then Williams sent a return long and Muguruza pumped her fist.
One moment there was just one bitsy point between them and the next moment they were separated by a yawning set.
Williams launched the second frame with a formidable ace but never found her footing again, repeatedly double-faulting, getting all tangled up in her footwork, her serve dropping to 80 m.p.h., a volley butchered there, a cross-court groundstroke mangled there, and thrice caving to break-point pressure as Muguruza went on a frenzied ninegame run. Williams advancing her six-foot-one frame to the net didn’t remotely intimidate her opponent as Muguruza calmly pinpointed shots behind her, deploying her backhand down the line.
“Definitely she hit some great passing shots that definitely opened the gap up a lot more and gave her some more opportunities,” Williams observed. “Just credit to her for forcing the issue there.”
It was as if, having failed to capitalize on her chances, Williams rapidly deflated.
The thrashing ended on an anticlimactic burp when, on match point, Williams hit a shot that landed long. Muguruza challenged the in call and she was right. The ball was quite out. Muguruza sank to her knees and covered her face with her hands.
Shortly afterwards, the victor walked to the stadium lobby to gaze upon her name, hastily added to the champions’ list, former King Juan Carlos of Spain standing by proudly. “Finally!” she exclaimed.
Muguruza later related how she’d grown up playing hard-ball tennis with her older brothers and embracing the power game as her body got taller and taller, her arms longer and longer.
Analyzing this match, Muguruza claimed she was nervous to start — double-faulted on her first serve — but was actually less anxious when facing those set points in the first. “I’m like, hey, it’s normal. I’m playing Venus here. So I just keep fighting. I knew that if I was playing like I was playing during the two weeks, I was going to have eventually an opportunity. So I was calm. If I lose the first the set, I still have two more. Let’s not make a drama, you know?”
It was dramatic — the freefall on Williams’ side of the court.
“She played amazing,” the loser acknowledged.
Williams, oldest Wimbledon finalist since Martina Navratilova in 1994, had been seeking her sixth championship here, 17 years after the first one. She hadn’t dropped a set over the past fortnight, hadn’t made it this far since 2009, hadn’t won it since 2008.
“A lot of beautiful moments in the last couple of weeks,” she said.
The victory: “I’m going to eat and celebrate and dance.”
Hey Roger, save that last dance for Garbine.