DRESSED TO THRILL
Wimbledon champion Muguruza has a passion for fashion and the steel to defend her title in style
Intimidation plays a big part, but the racket has to speak
SITTING across the table from you, Garbine Muguruza strikes a less intimidating figure than is surely the case when she is stationed at the other end of a tennis court.
At close quarters the defending Wimbledon champion is a 24-yearold of mixed Spanish-Venezuelan heritage with a love of music, a passion for fashion and a beatific smile.
Across the net she is the player who has refused to yield on the biggest stages and occasions to the likes of the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova, challenges from which others might have shrunk.
When she defeated Venus Williams in last year’s final 7-5, 6-0 to claim the Venus Rosewater dish, it was not the first time she had faced down the most severe opposition when it mattered most.
In 2016 she shot to worldwide fame when she shocked Serena Williams to win the French Open final. A few weeks ago, in the Roland Garros quarter- finals, she dismantled Sharapova for the loss of three games, although she then fell to eventual champion Simona Halep.
Clearly there is a steely side to Muguruza — who faces Brit Naomi Broady on Centre Court in the first round — and it is evident when she discusses the reality of facing ferocious competitors such as Sharapova or Williams.
‘You know she is a very good tennis player but I’m a very good player, too,’ says Muguruza.
‘I understand the noises and the intimidation, but the racket has to speak. The intimidation is a part of it, every player knows, but you have to perform yourself and you have to believe in your talent.’
This, however, is clearly only one part of her. There is also the person who obsessively listens to music, has developed the hobby of designing clothes and fund-raises for a project in Cambodia teaching impoverished children to read.
Muguruza was born in Caracas to a Venezuelan mother and Spanish father. Aged six, she moved to Barcelona, where her two older brothers were at the Bruguera Tennis Academy with the hope of pursuing a professional career.
As it turned out, she was the one with the exceptional talent and, although it was not the original intention, she enrolled and was quickly identified as having unusual potential.
She happily represents Spain, the nation of her main upbringing and her Basque father, who was an enthusiastic player of the region’s traditional game pelota. Yet she retains close links to the troubled country of her birth, where her mother Scarlet’s family still live.
This, she says, helps avoid getting seduced by the glamorous world she now inhabits.
‘I know that I’m very privileged. Coming from Venezuela, we have made a very long journey to where we are. I think having a difficult reality close to you makes you keep your mind, when so many people might think your life is so exciting and well rewarded.
‘It’s not a good thing happening there (Venezuela) but maybe it helps me and my family keep our feet on the ground. All my mother’s family are there. I don’t want to lose touch with reality and that can happen.
‘I feel like I want to help and that’s why I’m involved with Room To Read. We have built a library in Cambodia. I want to help the kids who have nothing.’
When she is doing something for herself away from the game, it usually involves clothes. She is a disciple of the veteran Venezuelan designer Carolina Herrera and has ambitions herself to work in that business.
‘I love fashion, I read the magazines, I’m always studying it,’ says Muguruza, who continued with her education until 18, by which time she was already ranked in the world’s top 100. ‘My mother is a nutritionist but she always wanted to be a fashion designer and when she was younger she was always making clothes for people. She never pursued that path, so we always talk about that.
‘I find I’m always wearing tennis clothes but I don’t get to wear dresses that often. I’m starting to make my own designs. Not tennis clothes, nothing sporty, just dresses. I love Carolina Herrera and I admire Hugo Boss — very good, very classy.’
On court Muguruza can be inconsistent, partly as a result of playing a relatively high- risk game that features big hitting off both flanks powered by sublime natural timing. Some days she can look invincible, others more vulnerable.
With Serena Williams coming to the end, she is the most likely candidate to emerge as a figurehead for the women’s game.
That will require more continuous grind through the long weeks of the tour. It is perhaps telling that one of the things she loves about Wimbledon is avoiding the routine of staying in soulless hotels. ‘One of the best parts is that we all stay together, my entire team, in a house. It can be lonely being in hotel rooms all the time but here we can share things together.
‘I really appreciate going to the supermarket to buy things and be able to cook for each other, not just healthy things but pastries and cookies so we can enjoy the kitchen. It sounds strange but that is a simple and lovely thing to be able to do.’
Muguruza says she is polite but not sociable with other players, as she regards the locker room as essentially a competitive environment.
In what is a very open women’s field, she is among the favourites this fortnight and will hope for the same effect as 2017.
‘Two weeks is a long time and I felt like I got better and better with each match last year, hitting the ball cleaner and cleaner.
‘I don’t know what will happen this time, but when you walk through the gates you have the proof that you can do it. It maybe gives you extra belief that others can’t have.’