Muguruza reaches her break point
MOST newly minted champions set their sights on more titles, more ranking points. Not Garbine Muguruza.
After becoming Wimbledon champion, the 23-year-old Spaniard is seeking to broaden her life beyond the court.
“I want to try to be a regular girl, or woman. I am still searching for that,” she said. “But it’s hard. I have played tennis since I was three years old.
“Everything about my career so far has been super passionate and I love it. But I also like to cook and listen to music, try to live a normal life for someone of my age.”
Muguruza, who won the French Open last year, will now find the pressure on her escalating. She has already risen to world No5, and had to sit through 33 interviews within three hours of coming off court after her straight-sets win over Venus Williams, above.
There she was presented with the Wimbledon members’ badge, awarded exclusively to the champions.
“A man came up to me and handed it to me, and I pinned it on my shirt,” she said. “I didn’t know what it meant but it now seems I can come in for afternoon tea. It made me feel I have joined an incredible, historic club.”
After a tight first set, Muguruza wiped the floor with Williams winning 7-5, 6-0, weeping tears of joy at the end and squatting on the court with her head in her hands.
“I’m human, I feel pressure, I can have a love-hate relationship with tennis,” she said.
“When you win everything it is beautiful; when you lose everything is darker. It’s hard.
“My life didn’t change after I won the French last year, but I did find the occasion so draining. We’ll see what happens now.”
Muguruza lived in Venezuela, her mother’s homeland, until she was six but has not been back there for nearly four years. That is the price she has paid as she pursues the highest honours in the game.
“I know it is going to be difficult to come down from such a high, so I need to turn the page as quickly as possible,” she said. “I need to calm down, refocus, find myself.
“Wimbledon is the cathedral of tennis. When we walked out at the start with the roof closed I could hear all the echoes and I thought, ‘What a great thing for me to be a player in this final. And even better if I can win.’
“Normally you get tired, sometimes there is pain, or my confidence is not there, but this time I was able to put everything together. It was very satisfying. Now it’s time for me.”