Muguruza looking good in US
Spanish star finds new steadiness amid upsets
AFTER six days of upsets, the US Open’s singles draws are increasingly resembling an overfished lagoon from which many of the bigger catches have already been hooked.
Yet a few apex predators remain. On Friday, Garbine Muguruza went gliding by in typically imperious fashion, dropping only two games against Wimbledon semifinalist Magdalena Rybarikova.
Her old paradigm – in which she made one big splash a season then disappeared from view – is being overtaken by a new steadiness, illustrated by her status as the leading points-scorer of the year to date.
“If I win every week that would not be normal,” Muguruza said, with one of her dimpled smiles.
“But so far I am improving my medium level. It’s higher than before. I have maybe less bad days, and when I have a bad day I try not to drop that much.
“I think my style of game is very hard to play that well all the time.
“I feel like I want to miss the shot – I would rather that than for the other one to make winners. I want to feel in control so sometimes I make unnecessary mistakes.”
A rangy six-footer (1.83m), Muguruza is physically imposing, as well as unrelenting in her weight of shot.
But her mentality has hobbled her in the past: the idea that, as she explained only a few minutes after her Wimbledon triumph in July: “I don’t think anyone is going to dominate so long as Serena.”
But why not set that as her own target? Why not live up to the nickname bestowed by some of her more ardent fans – Garbine Muguruthless?
At least the lessons of top10 life are beginning to sink in.
After Muguruza won her maiden grand slam last year, overwhelming Williams herself to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, she found the mental adjustment so challenging that she did not reach another final – at any level – for more than a year.
It was all very different after July’s Wimbledon title, which came via victory over Venus Williams this time.
Muguruza got straight back on the job, competing bullishly on the American hardcourt circuit and claiming another trophy in Cincinnati a fortnight ago.
“Yes, it didn’t take me by surprise this time,” she says now. “The French Open had been such a big boom for me.
“My first grand slam victory, all very ’Oh my goodness’.
“And then right away I had to go to a grass court in Spain [in Majorca] to play a tournament for which I wasn’t really prepared. But I learnt from that.
“This time, the first thing I did was go to Spain by car. I felt for a road trip. I am always taking planes, and I just thought, ‘You know what . . .’”