A defeat in the first round of the Lyon Open against the Czech Linda Noskova (6-1, 6-4) on January 30, 2023 will forever be the last competitive match in the brilliant career of Garbiñe Muguruza (Caracas, 1993) . At 30 years old, the Spanish tennis player – she chose to represent Spain in two Olympics – has decided to put an end to her life on the courts to start enjoying things outside of them. “The time has come to say goodbye. I have come this far,” she proclaimed yesterday in Madrid, at a Laureus event, an entity of which she is an ambassador.
Muguruza, who has become the Guadalquivir of Spanish tennis, has spent the last 25 years wielding a racket and for years has been showing symptoms of saturation, putting her focus increasingly on her personal life. “The time has come for me to retire, to open this chapter of my life, a new era of my life. The word retired sounds very strong because I am still 30 years old, but it has been 25 years since I started playing tennis in which I have achieved so much,” she explained excitedly.
Although disappointments have accompanied him in the last few years of his career, important defeats in matches that he had controlled, the only reality is that Muguruza has become on his own merits one of the best rackets in the history of Spanish tennis, so rich in successes. in this sport.
Ten titles and seven finals contemplate her, with a very special peak. “The Wimbledon final is a unique moment, there are a thousand other moments, but winning Wimbledon, the place where the history of tennis begins, is the best. Winning that tournament is the most I could achieve,” she confirmed. After losing the 2014 final at the All England Club at just 21 years old, Muguruza would achieve glory in 2017 by defeating Venus Williams, her sporting mirror, and would equal Conchita Martínez as Spanish queen in London, with whom she was already collaborating then and with whom he forged a great friendship. A year before that tremendous triumph she had already tasted the glory of conquering the land of Paris, beating Serena Williams in the final of Roland Garros.
In that magical 2017, the tennis player from Caracas was also the best tennis player on the planet for four weeks. “If when I started hitting my first tennis balls someone had told me that I would become a professional tennis player, that I would fulfill my dream of winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon, that I would become number 1 in the world and win the WTA Finals, I would have thought that “That person was crazy,” joked Muguruza, whose last great feat was becoming the first Spaniard to win the Women’s Masters (WTA Finals) in 2021.
Since that success, other things have been on Muguruza’s mind, whose withdrawal should not surprise anyone due to the clues he had left behind. “Professional tennis deprives you of many things, I want to make up for lost time and do common things. I have plans to start a family, I want to get married, have a dog…”, he listed.
Muguruza has left his mark on the slopes. Now he has to do it in other places.
