Muguruza is in great space

Melbourne – Garbine Muguruza (above) won only one match between June and December last year. Suffering illness, she was then thrashed 0-6 by a qualifier in her first set at the Australian Open.

Now the 26-year-old faces American surprise-package Sofia Kenin in the final in Melbourne today, on the cusp of a third Grand Slam title.

The Venezuelan-born Spaniard has been keen to play down the swift transformation in her fortunes, but the facts speak for themselves.

Dial back to July 2017, when Muguruza won Wimbledon to go with her French Open title a year earlier. In September 2017 she rose to world No 1.

What followed was a gradual but marked decline that she is only reversing now.

Muguruza won one title in 2018, in Monterrey, Mexico, the other high point reaching the French Open semifinals.

She retained her Monterrey crown in 2019 but lost in the first round at Wimbledon in July, precipitating a dire run where she reached only one second round in five tournaments.

In Melbourne, Muguruza bristled at one reporter’s suggestion that she had been stuck in a “coma” for the last two years.

“I think a “coma” is a pretty strong comment. I would say I think those years were less successful if you compare them to my previous years,” said Muguruza, unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2014.

“I just think you struggle as a player and there are moments where things don’t go your way.

“You just have to be patient and go through the rough moments, just hang in there and it will come back again.”

Come back again it certainly has and Muguruza, now at 32 in the world rankings, will dart up to 11th if she beats Kenin in the final.

Muguruza has reunited with fellow former Wimbledon champion and compatriot Conchita Martinez as her coach.

Martinez was on Muguruza’s team in 2017 when she won Wimbledon. She beat three top-10 seeds on the way to the final.

Martinez said there was no magic bullet – they focused on Muguruza’s fitness at the beginning and worked on “a lot of aspects of her tennis”.

“Everything is possible if you have the right mentality and I am certainly convinced she definitely has the right mentality,” said Martinez. - AFP