Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Venezuelan-born Spanish former professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. She was ranked as the
world No. 1 in women's singles by the
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. The association governs the WTA Tour, which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women, and was founded to create a better future fo ...
(WTA), and world No. 10 in doubles. Muguruza won ten
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
-level singles titles, including two
major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
s at the
2016 French Open
The 2016 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 115th edition (86th as a Grand Slam) of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 22 May to 5 ...
and the
2017 Wimbledon Championships
The 2017 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw matches commenced on 3 July 2017 and concluded on 16 July 2 ...
, as well as the
2021 WTA Finals. She also finished runner-up at the
2015 Wimbledon Championships
The 2015 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom, from 29 June to 12 July 2015.
It was the 129th edit ...
and the
2020 Australian Open.
With powerful groundstrokes and an aggressive style of play, Muguruza came to prominence at the
2012 Miami Open by reaching the fourth round defeating two top ten players. In 2015, Muguruza reached her first major final at Wimbledon, where she lost to
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...
. She then won her first
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
-level crown at the
2015 China Open, and qualified for her first
WTA Finals in singles, losing to
Agnieszka Radwańska
Agnieszka Roma Radwańska (; born 6 March 1989) is a Polish former professional tennis player and current coach. She was ranked world No. 2 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), in July 2012. Radwańska won 20 WTA Tour sing ...
in the semifinals. Muguruza then enjoyed the greatest achievements of her career in the following six years, winning the 2016 French Open and the 2017 Wimbledon Championships (defeating Serena and
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...
in the finals, respectively), reaching the world No. 1 singles ranking, reaching the 2020 Australian Open final, and winning the 2021 WTA Finals. Muguruza is the only person to beat both Williams sisters in a grand slam final. After playing her last professional singles match in
January 2023, Muguruza formally retired from the sport in April 2024 at the age of 30.
Muguruza was also successful in doubles, winning five titles, finishing runner-up at the
2015 WTA Finals and reaching the
2014 French Open semifinals, always partnering
Carla Suárez Navarro
Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a best WTA doubles ranking of 11, o ...
.
Early life
Garbiñe Muguruza was born in
Caracas
Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
, on 8 October 1993 to her Venezuelan mother, Scarlet Blanco, and her
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
father José Antonio Muguruza, who hails from
Azkoitia
Azkoitia () is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, in northern Spain. It is also the seat of the Municipalities of Spain, municipality of the same name.
...
in
Gipuzkoa
Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...
,
Basque Country. She has two elder brothers named Asier and Igor, also ex-professional tennis players, and has dual Spanish-Venezuelan citizenship. Muguruza began playing tennis at the age of three at the tennis courts of Mampote, in Guarenas outside Caracas, and already showed great talent and skill.
After moving to Spain with her family when she was six years old, looking for better prospects in her tennis development, Muguruza began training at the Bruguera Tennis Academy in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
with her brothers, all dreaming of becoming professional tennis players.
Tennis career
2012-13: Early pro career
After turning professional on 2 March 2012, Muguruza was given a wild card for her first WTA Tour main-draw appearance at the
Miami Open.
There, she upset former world No. 2,
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Igorevna Zvonareva ( rus, Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, p=ˈvʲerə ˈiɡərʲɪvnə zvənɐˈrʲɵvə, a=Vera zvonareva.ogg; born 7 September 1984) is a Russian former professional tennis player. Her career-high singles ran ...
, and former world No. 10,
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta (; born 25 February 1982) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis pla ...
, before falling in the round of 16 to the eventual champion,
Agnieszka Radwańska
Agnieszka Roma Radwańska (; born 6 March 1989) is a Polish former professional tennis player and current coach. She was ranked world No. 2 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), in July 2012. Radwańska won 20 WTA Tour sing ...
, in straight sets.
At the
US Open, she qualified into the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time after a number of players withdrew; she lost in three sets to tenth seed
Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. Errani is one of only seven women who have completed a career Grand Slam (tennis)#Golden Slam, Golden Slam in doubles. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, a former ...
in the first round.
At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Muguruza made it into the main draw, after several players withdrew that did not pass into the qualifying match, she lost to
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...
in straight sets in the second round.
At
Indian Wells, she qualified for the main draw and then made her way to the last 16, where she fell to eventual semifinalist
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 34 wee ...
. She was then awarded a main-draw wild card into the
Miami Open once more where she matched last year's result, recording wins over
Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is the current List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. She also has a best singles WTA rankings, ranking of No. 27 by the W ...
, 23rd seed
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (; born 3 July 1991) is a Russian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 11 on 8 November 2021. Pavlyuchenkova has won twelve singles titles ...
and ninth seed
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is an inactive Danish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, hold ...
en route to the round of 16 where she lost to fifth seed
Li Na
Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked world No. 2 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association. Li won nine WTA Tour-level singles titles, including two Grand Slam (t ...
.
After
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, Muguruza underwent a right ankle surgery and missed the rest of the season. She continued to train by hitting groundstrokes sitting down. She ended that year as the world No. 63 in singles and No. 153 in doubles.
2014: First WTA title, steady results & rise in doubles
Muguruza began the
2014 season with a quarterfinal appearance at the
Auckland Open, where she lost to former
world No. 1 and eventual runner-up,
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...
. The following week, Muguruza qualified and eventually won her first
WTA singles title at the
Hobart International by defeating
Klára Zakopalová in the final in straight sets.
At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Muguruza recovered from a set down to defeat tenth seed Caroline Wozniacki in three sets to reach the fourth round for the first time where she lost in straight sets to the fifth seed, Agnieszka Radwańska. She and
Arantxa Parra Santonja also reached the second round of the
doubles event; they lost in straight sets to the eighth seeds,
Raquel Kops-Jones and
Abigail Spears
Abigail Michal Spears (born July 12, 1981) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Spears won 21 double titles including the 2017 Australian Open.
Spears started playing tennis in 1988 when she was 7 years old, and turn ...
.
After a three-set defeat to
Kimiko Date-Krumm
is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals of the 1994 Australian Open, the 1995 French Open and the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, and won the Japan Open a record four times. She reached a career-high ranking ...
in the first round of the
Thailand Open, Muguruza reached her second singles final of the year at the
Brasil Tennis Cup, where she lost in three sets to Klára Zakopalová despite having led by a set and 5–2. Muguruza then lost in the second round at
Indian Wells and
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, after receiving opening-round byes, but did reach the quarterfinals of the latter event in doubles where she and her partner, Carla Suárez Navarro lost in three sets to the 8th seeds, Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.
Muguruza recovered from her first-round defeat at the
Monterrey Open by reaching the semifinals of the
Marrakech Grand Prix where she lost to the eventual champion,
María Teresa Torró Flor in straight sets. However, she and
Romina Oprandi managed to win the
doubles event by defeating
Katarzyna Piter
Katarzyna Piter (; born 16 February 1991) is a Polish professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
In May 2014, she reached her career-high ranking of No. 95 in singles and in July 2022, No. 66 in doubles. She has won three doubles ti ...
and
Maryna Zanevska
Maryna Volodymyrivna Zanevska (; born 24 August 1993) is a Ukrainian-born Belgian former professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 62, achieved on 23 May 2022, and a WTA doubles ranking of 86, reached on 16 ...
in the final in three sets. At the
Madrid Open, Muguruza lost in the second round to former
US Open champion,
Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...
but reached the final of the
doubles event with Carla Suárez Navarro where they lost in straight sets to the second seeded Italians, Sara Errani and
Roberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she is a Grand Slam (tennis)#Career Grand Slam, Career Grand Slam champion having won all Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major tournaments and reac ...
.
After a second-round defeat to former French Open champion
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She had career-high rankings of world No. 4 in women's singles and No. 8 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Schiavone won eight W ...
at the
Italian Open, Muguruza advanced to her first major quarterfinal at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, having handed the world No. 1 and defending champion, Serena Williams, her worst defeat in a major tournament, losing only four games in the second round, before losing to the eventual champion,
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (, ; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. Sharapova won 36 WTA Tour-level sin ...
, in three sets. Muguruza also reached the semifinals of the
doubles event with Suárez Navarro, where the pair lost in three sets to the top seeds and eventual champions,
Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai (; ; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 doubles player by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA ...
and
Hsieh Su-wei
Hsieh Su-wei (; ; born 4 January 1986) is a Taiwanese professional tennis player. A former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in Doubles tennis, doubles with nine Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles, she is rega ...
. As a result of her strong performances at the event, Muguruza achieved career-high singles and doubles rankings of world No. 27 and No. 36 respectively.
Muguruza began her
grass-court season at the
Rosmalen Championships where she reached the quarterfinals before losing to American qualifier
CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets, after leading 5–2 in the opening set. At the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
, Muguruza was seeded 27th but was upset by Vandeweghe in the first round, in three sets. Seeded 16th in the
doubles event with Suárez Navarro, Muguruza and her partner defeated
Ajla Tomljanović and
Christina McHale, and
Monica Niculescu
Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA as high as No. 28 in singles and No. 11 in doubles. She has won three singles and 10 dou ...
and
Klára Koukalová
Klára Koukalová (formerly Zakopalová; born 24 February 1982) is a Czech former tennis player. She was born and still lives in Prague. Having turned professional in 1999, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 20, on 15 April 2 ...
to reach the third round where they lost in straight sets to
Andrea Petkovic and
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Champion ...
.
Muguruza began the North American hardcourt season at the
Stanford Classic. She defeated sixth seed and defending champion,
Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková (; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001 WTA Tour Championships, 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 WTA Tour ...
, in three sets and unseeded
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Open, defeating Martin ...
to reach the quarterfinals where she lost in straight sets to the third seed Angelique Kerber. Seeded third in the
doubles event with Suárez Navarro, the pair defeated
Eva Hrdinová
Eva Hrdinová (born 15 June 1984) is a Czech former tennis player.
In her career, Hrdinová won three singles titles and 19 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Cir ...
and
Andreja Klepač,
Caroline Garcia and
Zhang Shuai
Zhang Shuai ( zh , s = 张帅 , p = Zhāng Shuài ; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She has a career-high doubles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 2, achieved in July 2022 and a singles ranking of No. 22 re ...
and the second seeds,
Anastasia Rodionova
Anastasia Ivanovna Rodionova (; born 12 May 1982) is a Russian-born Australian former professional tennis player.
Rodionova has won 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as eight singles and 13 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 16 Au ...
and
Alla Kudryavtseva
Alla Alexandrovna Kudryavtseva (; born 3 November 1987) is a retired Russian tennis player.
Kudryavtseva won one singles title and nine doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as two singles titles and 15 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circ ...
, to reach the final where they defeated
Paula Kania and
Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is the current List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. She also has a best singles WTA rankings, ranking of No. 27 by the W ...
in three sets to win the title. At the following week's
Canadian Open, Muguruza overcame Canadian qualifier
Stéphanie Dubois in the first round before falling in three sets to fourth seed Maria Sharapova. In the
doubles event, Muguruza and Suárez Navarro progressed to the second round where they lost to the second seeds,
Hsieh Su-wei
Hsieh Su-wei (; ; born 4 January 1986) is a Taiwanese professional tennis player. A former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in Doubles tennis, doubles with nine Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles, she is rega ...
and
Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai (; ; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 doubles player by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA ...
. At the
Cincinnati Open, Muguruza lost in the first round to German qualifier
Annika Beck
Annika Beck (; born 16 February 1994) is a German former professional tennis player. She started playing tennis at the age of four when introduced to the game by her parents. A baseliner whose favorite shot is forehand, and favorite surface is ...
but reached the quarterfinals in
doubles where she and Suárez Navarro lost to Kimiko Date-Krumm and
Andrea Hlaváčková
Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew.
Origin of the name
The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ...
, in straight sets. At the
Connecticut Open, Muguruza upset seventh seed Sara Errani before defeating qualifier Peng Shuai to reach the quarterfinals where she lost in three sets to unseeded
Camila Giorgi
Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She had a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 26, which was achieved on 22 October 2018. Giorgi was known for her aggressive style of pla ...
. She and Suárez Navarro also lost to
Marina Erakovic and
Arantxa Parra Santonja in the first round of the
doubles event. Muguruza's next event was the
US Open, where she competed as the 25th seed. However, she was upset by resurgent qualifier,
Mirjana Lučić-Baroni
Mirjana Lučić-Baroni (; ; born 9 March 1982) is a Croatian inactive professional tennis player. She enjoyed a meteoric rise on the WTA Tour in the late 1990s, during which she set various "youngest-ever" records. She captured the women's double ...
in the first round in straight sets. She and Suarez Navarro also reached the third round of the
doubles event, defeating
Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet (; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player. She has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circuit. ...
and
Kirsten Flipkens
Kirsten "Flipper" Flipkens (; born 10 January 1986) is a Belgian tennis coach and a former professional player. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 13 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Flipkens has won one singles title on the WTA T ...
and Marina Erakovic and Arantxa Parra Santonja en route before losing to the unseeded
Williams sisters.
Muguruza began the Asian swing by competing at the
Pan Pacific Open. She defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, fourth seed
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the W ...
and
Casey Dellacqua
Casey Dellacqua ( ; born 11 February 1985) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current commentator. Her best singles results on the WTA Tour have been semifinal appearances at the 2012 Texas Tennis Open and 2014 Birmingham ...
en route to the semifinals where she fell in three sets to the second seed and eventual runner-up, Caroline Wozniacki. Muguruza also reached the final of the
doubles event with Suárez Navarro, defeating Pavlyuchenkova and
Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles.
She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles ...
,
Jarmila Gajdošová
Jarmila Wolfe (née Gajdošová, formerly Groth; born 26 April 1987) is a Slovak-Australian former tennis player.
In her career, she won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 14 singles and ten doubles titles on ...
and
Arina Rodionova
Arina Ivanovna Rodionova (; born 15 December 1989) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. On 5 February 2024, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 97. On 27 July 2015, she peaked at No. 41 in the doubles ra ...
and the second seeds,
Raquel Kops-Jones and
Abigail Spears
Abigail Michal Spears (born July 12, 1981) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Spears won 21 double titles including the 2017 Australian Open.
Spears started playing tennis in 1988 when she was 7 years old, and turn ...
en route before losing to the top seeds,
Cara Black
Cara Cavell Black (born 17 February 1979) is a Zimbabwean former professional tennis player. Black was primarily a doubles specialist, winning 60 WTA Tour and 11 ITF Women's Circuit, ITF doubles titles. A former List of WTA number 1 ranked dou ...
and
Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza (; born 15 November 1986) is an Indian former professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she won six major titles – three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. From 2003 until her retirement from singles ...
in straight sets. Muguruza next competed at the inaugural edition of the
Wuhan Open
The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Voyah) is a WTA 1000 tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its ...
, where she reached the third round of the
singles, defeating
María Teresa Torró Flor and world No. 2,
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 64 w ...
, en route and the second round of the
doubles with Suárez Navarro after defeating Torró Flor and
Sílvia Soler Espinosa in the first round but was ultimately forced to withdraw from the event due to gastritis. At the following week's
China Open, Muguruza suffered a three-set first-round loss to
Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova (; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles.
She is a four-time Gra ...
but reached the quarterfinals of the
doubles event with Suárez Navarro.
Muguruza's final event of the year was the season ending
Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria. Despite going undefeated in the
round-robin stage with wins over top seed, Ekaterina Makarova, third seed Flavia Pennetta and 6th seed Alizé Cornet Muguruza fell to the eventual champion, Andrea Petkovic, in the semifinals in straight sets. She finished the year ranked at career-high rankings of world No. 21 in singles and No. 16 in doubles.
2015: First Grand Slam final & top 10 in doubles, WTA finals debut
Muguruza's first event of the year was to be the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA 500 tournaments, WTA 500 tournament and an ATP World T ...
but she was forced to withdraw from the event due to an ankle injury. The following week, Muguruza chose not to defend her title at the
Hobart International and competed at the
Sydney International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
instead, where she reached the quarterfinals, defeating Agnieszka Radwańska for the first time in her career en route. At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, she progressed to the fourth round for the second consecutive year with wins over Marina Erakovic, Daniela Hantuchová and
Timea Bacsinszky
Timea Bacsinszky (; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. A former top ten singles player, Bacsinszky reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, on 16 May 2016. She won four singles and five doubles titles o ...
before falling to the eventual champion, Serena Williams, in three sets.
Muguruza won both of her singles rubbers in the
2015 Fed Cup World Group II, defeating
Irina-Camelia Begu
Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA ranking, WTA singles ranking of world No. 22 , in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest ranking in doubles, also No. 22. She is ...
and world No. 3, Simona Halep, but Spain lost the tie 2–3 after Muguruza and her compatriot,
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player.
As a player she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 16 in 2009, and won 11 singles and 28 doubles titles, including the 2008 ...
, lost the deciding doubles rubber. At the
Dubai Championships, Muguruza reached her first Premier-5 semifinal in singles, defeating qualifier
Jarmila Gajdošová
Jarmila Wolfe (née Gajdošová, formerly Groth; born 26 April 1987) is a Slovak-Australian former tennis player.
In her career, she won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 14 singles and ten doubles titles on ...
, 12th seed Jelena Janković, fifth seed Agnieszka Radwańska and 13th seed and doubles partner Suárez Navarro before falling to the 17th seed and eventual runner-up,
Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), holding the position for a total of eight weeks, and has been ...
, in three sets. She also reached the final of the
doubles with Suárez Navarro. The following week, Muguruza retired from her first-round match against Suárez Navarro at the
Qatar Open while trailing 6–5 in the first set.
In March, she lost to Karolina Plíšková in the third round of the
Indian Wells Open after a second-round win over American wild card
Irina Falconi
Irina Falconi Hartman (; born Irina Alejandra Falconi; May 4, 1990) is an Ecuadorian-born United States, American former professional tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 63, which she reached in May 2016. Her career-high in doubles ...
. Despite this, she rose to a career-high singles ranking of 19 after the event. A fortnight later, Muguruza reached the third round of the
Miami Open, after defeating qualifier
Sesil Karatantcheva
Sesil Radoslavova Karatantcheva (; born 8 August 1989) is a Bulgarian former tennis player.
On 7 November 2005, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 35. On 19 April 2010, she peaked at No. 154 in the doubles rankings.
In her career ...
but lost to the 11th seed Sara Errani, after winning the first set.
Muguruza reached the second round of the three clay-court events that she competed in leading into the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
. She lost to second seed Simona Halep in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
,
Kristina Mladenovic
Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. Her best singles ranking is world No. 10.
She is a nine-time Grand Slam ...
in
Marrakech
Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...
and the eventual finalist
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and world No. 3 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Kuznetsova won 18 singl ...
in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. Muguruza and Suárez Navarro also reached the
doubles final of the latter for the second consecutive year but the pair lost in three sets to Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova. Despite failing to win back-to-back matches since February, Muguruza reached her second consecutive French Open quarterfinal, defeating Angelique Kerber and Flavia Pennetta en route, before losing to the eventual runner-up,
Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles.
She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles ...
.
Muguruza made a poor start into the grass-court season, losing in the first round of the
Birmingham Classic and the third round of the
Eastbourne International
The Eastbourne Open (also known as Eastbourne International, formerly Rothesay) is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as ...
after a first-round bye. However, she and Suárez Navarro won their first grass-court
doubles title in Birmingham, defeating Andrea Hlaváčková and
Lucie Hradecká
Lucie Hradecká (; born 21 May 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and 26-time WTA Tour doubles titlist, she reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in October 2012. She w ...
in straight sets in the final. At the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
, Muguruza defeated tenth seed Kerber in the third round, 5th seed Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round, 15th seed Timea Bacsinszky in the quarterfinals and 13th seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals to advance to her maiden major final. She played against world No. 1, Serena Williams, for the title, but lost in straight sets. After the tournament, Muguruza entered the top 10 for the first time, moving up to world No. 9 in the rankings.
During the
US Open Series, Muguruza did not enjoy much success, dropping her opening matches in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
and
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
to qualifiers
Lesia Tsurenko and Yaroslava Shvedova respectively. At the
US Open, she recorded her first win at the tournament by defeating German
Carina Witthöft in the first round. However, she fell short to
Johanna Konta
Johanna Konta (born 17 May 1991) is a British-Australian former professional tennis player. Konta won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, along with eleven titles in singles and four in doubles on the ITF Women's Circuit. She was British No. ...
in the following round in three sets, the match was a total time of 3 hours and 23 minutes, the longest women's singles match in that tournament's history since the introduction of tiebreaker in 1970.
Muguruza kicked off the Asian swing at the
Pan Pacific Open where she advanced to the last eight after defeating
Barbora Strýcová
Barbora Strýcová (; born 28 March 1986), formerly known as Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
She won two Gra ...
before losing to eventual finalist
Belinda Bencic, in straight sets. At the
Wuhan Open
The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Voyah) is a WTA 1000 tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its ...
, Muguruza cruised into her second straight quarterfinal at the event after dispatching
Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She has achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Stephens has won eight WTA Tour-level singles titles, including the 2 ...
and Ana Ivanovic. She then went on to defeat the likes of
Anna Karolína Schmiedlová and Kerber to reach the final where she faced Venus Williams but was forced to retire in the second set with an ankle injury. Muguruza was able to crack the top 5 for the first time in her career after the tournament's conclusion. At the
China Open, Muguruza breezed by
Irina Falconi
Irina Falconi Hartman (; born Irina Alejandra Falconi; May 4, 1990) is an Ecuadorian-born United States, American former professional tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 63, which she reached in May 2016. Her career-high in doubles ...
before going the distance against Mirjana Lučić-Baroni to advance to the quarterfinals. With the win, Muguruza qualified for the
WTA Finals for the first time, becoming the first Spaniard to compete at the year-end championships since
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
Aránzazu Isabel María "Arantxa" Sánchez Vicario (; born 18 December 1971) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 12 weeks, as well as ...
in 2001. She then beat
Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Radwańska to advance to her maiden Premier Mandatory final. With her semifinal win over Radwańska, Muguruza reached a career high of world No. 4. She went on to defeat Bacsinszky in straight sets to claim her first Premier Mandatory title and her biggest title of her career.
Muguruza then traveled to Singapore for the
2015 WTA Finals, where she went undefeated in the round-robin play, beating Petra Kvitová, Angelique Kerber, and Lucie Šafářová. She then lost to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals. Muguruza also competed in doubles in Singapore, where she and Suárez Navarro reached the final. However, they lost to the No. 1 seeds, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.
2016: French Open champion and world No. 2
Muguruza started her year at the Brisbane International, when she already had to retire in her first match of the tournament due to
plantar fasciitis
Plantar fasciitis or plantar heel pain is a disorder of the plantar fascia, which is the connective tissue that supports the Arches of the foot, arch of the foot. It results in pain in the heel and Sole (foot), bottom of the foot that is usuall ...
. Her next tournament was the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, where she ensured a spot in the third round with straight set wins over
Anett Kontaveit and Kirsten Flipkens, but fell to Barbora Strýcová. At the
Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
, Muguruza helped in Spain's tie against Serbia with wins over
Ivana Jorović and
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the W ...
.
At the Dubai Championships, Muguruza suffered another early loss as she fell to eventual semi-finalist
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina (, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and No. 108 in doubles by the WTA rankings, WTA. Svitolina has won 18 WTA Tour single ...
. Her next tournament was the
Qatar Ladies Open, where she reached first quarterfinal of the year, defeating
Nao Hibino
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 56 in singles and No. 43 in doubles by the WTA. Hibino has won three singles titles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She has also won nine singles and ...
and Tímea Babos, but lost then to Andrea Petkovic in three sets. Next she played in
Indian Wells Open, where she lost in her opening match against
Christina McHale after receiving first round bye. At the
Miami Open, she was close to being defeated in the opening match against Dominika Cibulková but survived in the final set. She reached the fourth round but lost to the Indian Wells and eventual champion Victoria Azarenka in two tiebreakers.
She kicked off the clay court season by participating the
Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
against Italy. She scored wins against Francesca Schiavone and No. 7, Roberta Vinci, to help Spain enter the World Group next year. She then played in
Stuttgart Open. She reached her second quarterfinals of the season where she lost to Petra Kvitová. At the
Madrid Open, she lost in the second round against
Irina-Camelia Begu
Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA ranking, WTA singles ranking of world No. 22 , in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest ranking in doubles, also No. 22. She is ...
, despite serving for the match. She then went on to reach her first WTA semifinals of the season in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, after defeating top ten opponent Timea Bacsinszky in quarterfinals, but lost to
Madison Keys
Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 5 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Keys has won ten WTA Tour-level career singles ...
in straight sets.
At the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, Muguruza turned her season around, unexpectedly capturing her first major title. She lost the first set against Anna Karolina Schmiedlová in her first-round match but won in three sets. After that, she easily reached her second major final without losing a set in the next five matches, including wins over former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round, surprise quarterfinalist
Shelby Rogers, and former runner-up Sam Stosur in the semifinals. In the final, she faced world No. 1, Serena Williams, in a rematch of the previous year's
Wimbledon final, and won in straight sets for her maiden major title.
She marked 14 straight sets won, after losing the first she played. With the title she rose to a career high No. 2 in the WTA rankings of 6 June 2016. She is also the first Spanish female player to win a major title since Sánchez Vicario in 1998.
By winning, Muguruza became the second player of either gender born in the 1990s to win a Major title after Petra Kvitová first did so at the
2011 Wimbledon Championships
The 2011 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 125th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...
.
Starting off the grass-court season, she played the
Mallorca Open, where she as the top seed suffered a first-round exit to former Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens, in straight sets, marking the third tournament of the year where she lost in her first match played and her second consecutive loss to Flipkens on grass. Muguruza returned to grass for
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
as the second favorite with the chance to usurp the top ranking from Williams while being heralded as the leader of the next generation, following Williams' recent slump in tournament finals. Though Muguruza won her opening match against Camila Giorgi in a high quality display, she was quickly upset by
Jana Čepelová
Jana Čepelová (; born 29 May 1993) is a Slovak former professional tennis player.
Čepelová won seven singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 12 May 2014, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 50. On 18 Ma ...
in the second round. Unable to defend her finalist points from the previous year, Muguruza regressed to world No. 3 at the end of the tournament. At the Rio Olympic Games, Muguruza arrived as one of the favorite players to win in the women's singles tennis event. She defeated
Andreea Mitu of Romania and
Nao Hibino
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 56 in singles and No. 43 in doubles by the WTA. Hibino has won three singles titles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She has also won nine singles and ...
of Japan to progress to the third round. However, she was defeated comprehensively by the eventual gold medalist
Monica Puig of Puerto Rico. She was also in the mixed doubles tournament alongside
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
, but withdrew at the decision of Nadal, who was already playing both the men's singles and doubles.
Muguruza did not have much success during the
US Open Series, either. At the
US Open, she suffered another second-round loss, this time to
Anastasija Sevastova. She did not fare well during the Asian Swing, with early round losses at the
Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, the
Wuhan Open
The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Voyah) is a WTA 1000 tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its ...
, and the
China Open in Beijing. The loss in Beijing was significant, because Muguruza was the defending champion, and she therefore dropped in ranking after the tournament. However, she still qualified for the
WTA Finals. Muguruza was defeated in the round robin stage, her only win coming from a three-set match against Svetlana Kuznetsova. She ended the season ranked No. 7.
2017: Wimbledon crown and world No. 1
Muguruza started the season at the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA 500 tournaments, WTA 500 tournament and an ATP World T ...
, being the No. 4 seed. She made a run to the semifinals after three-set wins over Sam Stosur and
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, achieved in October 2022. Kasatkina ha ...
, and a straight sets win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. She then retired in the first set of her semifinal match against Alizé Cornet due to injury. At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Muguruza beat Marina Erakovic,
Samantha Crawford, Anastasija Sevastova and
Sorana Cîrstea
Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea (; born 7 April 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. In singles, she achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 on 12 August 2013. In doubles, her career-best ranking is No. 35, which she reached on 9 March ...
en route to her first quarterfinal at the tournament. She then lost to CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets.
Muguruza then played the Fed Cup quarterfinals, where she beat Barbora Strýcová in three sets before losing to Karolína Plíšková. Spain ended up losing the tie 2–3. During the Gulf Swing, she beat
Çağla Büyükakçay in
Doha
Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
, before succumbing to Zhang Shuai in three sets. She then retired in her first match at
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
against
Kateryna Bondarenko, due to injury. At
Indian Wells, Muguruza advanced to the quarterfinals, beating Kirsten Flipkens, 17-year-old
Kayla Day, and Elina Svitolina en route. She then lost to world No. 3, Karolína Plíšková, in two tiebreaks. At
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, she reached the fourth round and retired against Caroline Wozniacki after losing the first set due to illness.
Muguruza suffered early losses at the start of the clay-court season, losing in her opening matches in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
and
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
to Anett Kontaveit and Timea Bacsinszky, respectively. She bounced back in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
by reaching the semifinals, before she had to retire against Elina Svitolina in the first set due to a neck injury. Muguruza entered the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
as the defending champion, where she reached the fourth round, losing to home favourite Kristina Mladenovic, in three sets. In that game against Mladenovic, Muguruza had to face an extremely unfavorable crowd as well, almost bordering on unsportmanship-like behavior, since most of her unforced errors were celebrated not only by Mladenovic but by the crowd too. As she left the court and was receiving an ovation from the crowd, she was seen shaking her head and demanding the crowd not to applaud, since they wanted her to lose. In the following press conference, when asked about the pressure she suffered from the crowd, she started to cry and had to quit the press conference for about five minutes before she came to resume her thoughts on the match. This prompted a huge reaction in the Spanish sporting press, with some making the comment that "The Suzanne Lenglen Court looked more like the Stade de France, and it was as if there was a football game going on and not a tennis match". Since she failed to defend her title, Muguruza fell from the top 10.
Prior to Wimbledon, Muguruza began her grass-court season at the
Birmingham Classic where she beat
Elizaveta Kulichkova,
Alison Riske
Alison Riske-Amritraj (née Riske; born July 3, 1990) is an inactive American tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her first WTA Tour title in October 2014, at the Tianjin Open.
S ...
and CoCo Vandeweghe before losing in the semi-finals to eventual runner-up
Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh Jacinta Barty (born 24 April 1996) is an Australian former professional tennis player and cricketer. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
. She followed that with a second-round exit at the
Eastbourne International
The Eastbourne Open (also known as Eastbourne International, formerly Rothesay) is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as ...
, losing to Barbora Strýcová.
As the 14th seed, Muguruza reached the
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
fourth round, beating
Ekaterina Alexandrova,
Yanina Wickmayer
Yanina Wickmayer (born 20 October 1989) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals at the 2009 US Open – Women's singles, 2009 US Open, and a career-high WTA ranking of No. 12, on 19 April 2010. In doubles, she achieve ...
and Sorana Cîrstea. She then faced the previous year's runner-up and world No. 1, Angelique Kerber, eventually beating her in three sets. She then defeated seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and then 87th-ranked Magdaléna Rybáriková, both in straight sets, to advance to her second Wimbledon final. There, she defeated tenth seed Venus Williams in straight sets, clinching her second major title, and became the first ever, and only, player to defeat both Williams sisters in major singles finals.
Muguruza started her hardcourt summer in Stanford, beating Kayla Day and
Ana Konjuh before losing in the semifinals to Madison Keys. She next travelled to Toronto for the
Rogers Cup, and recorded wins over Kirsten Flipkens and Ashleigh Barty. Muguruza lost in the quarterfinals to Elina Svitolina. Muguruza's next tournament was the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati. She won two tough three set matches against Madison Keys and Svetlana Kuznetsova to make it to the semifinals. There she faced Karolína Plíšková, the world No. 1, to whom she had lost six times in a row. This time Muguruza turned the tables and won in two sets. In the final she played Simona Halep, dropping only one game in 57 minutes to capture the fifth title of her career. This also marked the first time in which she won multiple titles in one season.
Muguruza entered the
US Open as a contender for the No. 1 WTA rankings. She beat Rybáriková in a rematch of the Wimbledon semifinal to reach the fourth round of the US Open for the first time, where she lost to Petra Kvitová in straight sets. Despite the loss, Muguruza rose to the No. 1 ranking after reigning No. 1 Karolína Plíšková's loss to CoCo Vandeweghe in the quarterfinals, and became the 24th woman to achieve the ranking. Muguruza and
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
made Spain the first country since the United States 14 years ago to simultaneously top both the
ATP and the
WTA rankings.
In Tokyo, she lost to Wozniacki in the semifinals, winning only two games. She then lost in the quarterfinals of the
Wuhan Open
The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Voyah) is a WTA 1000 tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its ...
to
Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena "Aļona" Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997) is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 5 in singles and No. 4 in doubles by the WTA. Ostapenko has won nine WTA Tour-level singles and eleven doubles tit ...
and retired in the first round of the
China Open to Barbora Strýcová, after losing eight of the first nine games. With Simona Halep advancing to the final of the event, Muguruza ultimately lost the No. 1 ranking. Shortly after, she was named WTA Player of the Year. Muguruza was seeded second at the
WTA Finals and was drawn in the red group alongside Karolína Plíšková, Venus Williams and Jeļena Ostapenko. She won her first match against Ostapenko in straight sets before losing to Plíškova, winning two games in both sets. Muguruza then faced Williams for a place in the semifinals but ended up losing in straight sets. This loss ended her chances of gaining the year-end No. 1 ranking.
2018: Mixed results, out of top 10
Muguruza started the season at the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA 500 tournaments, WTA 500 tournament and an ATP World T ...
, where she was the top seed. After receiving a bye into the second round, she faced
Aleksandra Krunić, but was forced to retire due to cramping in the third set. Muguruza had served for the match in the second set, and the retirement marked the third straight year she had succumbed to injuries at Brisbane. Muguruza then took a wild card into the
Sydney International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
, where she was once again the top seed. After beating
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA rankings#Current rankings, singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest-ranked Dutch female playe ...
in the second round, Muguruza withdrew from the tournament due to continued physical problems.
At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, she was the third seed, and was also in contention for the No. 1 ranking. In the first round, she beat French wild card
Jessika Ponchet, in straight sets. In the second round, Muguruza was shocked by the world No. 88, Hsieh Su-wei, in straight sets.
After losing early at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Muguruza announced that
Conchita Martínez
Conchita Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and current coach. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at Wimbledon, doing so in 1994. Martínez also was the runner-up at th ...
would be rejoining her team for the next four events.
In her first event back with Martínez, Garbiñe reached the
Qatar Open final, recording wins over
Duan Yingying, Sorana Cîrstea, and
Caroline Garcia en route. She then lost to Petra Kvitová, in three sets. Muguruza then played
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, where she was seeded second. After receiving a first round bye, she beat
CiCi Bellis and Caroline Garcia in straight sets. In the semifinals, Muguruza lost to Daria Kasatkina in three sets, despite having served for the match and held three match points in the second set.
Her next tournament was
Indian Wells. In the second round, she played
Sachia Vickery, ranked No. 100 in the world. Muguruza led by a set and a double break, but eventually succumbed in three sets. At the
Miami Open, she reached the fourth round where she lost to eventual champion
Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She has achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Stephens has won eight WTA Tour-level singles titles, including the 2 ...
. The end of the tournament also marked the completion of Muguruza's temporary partnership with Martínez. Later that spring, she won the championship in
Monterrey
Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...
, Mexico, coming back from a set and a break down to defeat Tímea Babos in three sets in the final. The victory marked Muguruza's first title win since the
2017 Western & Southern Open.
Her clay-court season began with the
Fed Cup World Group II play-offs, where
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
was to face
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
. In her first match, Muguruza faced world No. 334
Montserrat González, winning in three close sets. Muguruza had served for the match in the second set and held a match point, but was forced into a decider. Muguruza's next singles match was against
Verónica Cepede Royg
Verónica Cepede Royg (; born 21 January 1992) is a Paraguayan former tennis player.
On 7 August 2017, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of No. 73. Her best doubles ranking is No. 85, achieved on 19 September 2016. Cepede Royg has wo ...
, which she won in straight sets. The victory ensured Spain would remain in World Group II next season. Her next tournament was
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
, where she was the No. 2 seed. In her first match against Pavlyuchenkova, Muguruza retired after the first set because of a back injury. She then played in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
where she lost in third round to Daria Kasatkina. In
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, Muguruza had bye in first round and in second round she lost to
Daria Gavrilova
Daria Saville (née Gavrilova; born 5 March 1994) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 2021. On 28 August 2017, she reached her best singles rank ...
.
At
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova,
Fiona Ferro
Fiona Ferro (born 12 March 1997) is a French-Belgian professional tennis player.
She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 39 in singles, attained on 8 March 2021, and No. 257 in doubles, reached on 17 May 2021. Ferro has won two singles tit ...
, Sam Stosur,
Lesia Tsurenko, and Maria Sharapova to reach the semifinals, where she lost to eventual champion Simona Halep.
Muguruza went into grass-court season as the top seed in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, where she lost in second round to Barbora Strýcová.
At Wimbledon, defending champion Muguruza was eliminated in the second round by Belgian world No. 47,
Alison Van Uytvanck
Alison Van Uytvanck (; born 26 March 1994) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. In August 2018, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 37.
Van Uytvanck has won five singles and two doubles WTA Tour titles and three Chall ...
, and thus suffered the earliest defeat of a defending women's champion at the All England Club since Steffi Graf lost in the first round in 1994
Muguruza finished her 2018 season with her ranking at a low of 18.
2019: Continued struggles, out of top 30
On 15 August 2018,
Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an international tennis tournament that plays mixed teams (one male and one female) on a country-by-country basis. It was first held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, played on indoor hardcourt, before b ...
organizers announced that Muguruza will represent Spain at the 2019 edition alongside
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 2013. Ferrer won 27 ATP Tour singles titles, including a ...
. At her first appearance at the tournament, she lost to Angelique Kerber of Germany in three sets.
At the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, Muguruza upset Elina Svitolina, the No. 9 seed, to reach her sixth consecutive round of 16. However, she subsequently lost to Sloane Stephens, in straight sets.
Muguruza's struggles at the majors would continue at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, losing to
Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round. Following the loss, Muguruza announced a split with her longtime coach
Sam Sumyk. She would also go on to lose in the first round of the US Open that year.
Cutting her tennis season short, in November, Muguruza climbed to the summit of
Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...
, Africa's highest mountain. She finished the season ranked No. 36.
2020: Return to form, first Australian Open final
Muguruza began the
new season with a semifinal appearance in
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...
, losing to eventual champion
Ekaterina Alexandrova. After pulling out of her quarterfinal match in Hobart due to illness, she bounced back at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, beating three seeded players, including fifth seed Elina Svitolina, fourth seed
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 64 w ...
and ninth seed Kiki Bertens to reach her fourth Grand Slam final, and first ever final in Melbourne. She lost it to 14th seed
Sofia Kenin in three sets. She next participated at
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, where she defeated
Kim Clijsters and
Veronika Kudermetova
Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova (born 24 April 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, achieved on 24 October 2022, and a best WTA doubles ranking of No. 2, reached on 6 June 2022. In ...
, before being defeated by
Jennifer Brady in the quarterfinals, and lost in the quarterfinals of
Doha
Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
to world No. 1, Ash Barty, after defeating Daria Kasatkina,
Ajla Tomljanović, and
Dayana Yastremska.
Following the suspension of the WTA Tour due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, she participated in the
US Open, where she defeated Nao Hibino, before losing in the second round to a returning
Tsvetana Pironkova
Tsvetana Kirilova Pironkova ( ; born 13 September 1987) is a Bulgarians, Bulgarian former tennis player. Considered to be one of the best grass court players of her generation, she has been noted for her "cerebral" skills on the surface, reachi ...
, despite leading by 5–2 in the first set. She next participated at
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, where she defeated Sloane Stephens,
Coco Gauff,
Johanna Konta
Johanna Konta (born 17 May 1991) is a British-Australian former professional tennis player. Konta won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, along with eleven titles in singles and four in doubles on the ITF Women's Circuit. She was British No. ...
, and Victoria Azarenka, before losing in three sets to the eventual champion, Simona Halep. She then entered the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, where she defeated
Tamara Zidanšek and
Kristýna Plíšková
Kristýna Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech inactive professional tennis player. In her career, she won one singles title and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, with three titles on the WTA Challenger Tour (two in doubles). She a ...
, before losing to
Danielle Collins
Danielle Rose Collins (born December 13, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She has reached career-high WTA rankings of world No. 7 in singles and No. 79 in doubles. Collins has won four singles titles, including a WTA 1000 titl ...
, despite leading 3–0, and then 5–4 in the final set. She ended the year ranked No. 15.
2021: Return to top 10, WTA Finals champion, year-end No. 3
Muguruza began her season at
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...
, where she scored wins over
Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich (born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She achieved her best singles ranking of world No. 29 on 19 September 2022, and peaked at No. 39 in the WTA doubles rankings on 23 August 2021 ...
and Kristina Mladenovic before losing to
Maria Sakkari
Maria Sakkari (, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her the highest-ranked Greek player ...
, in straight sets. In her next tournament at the
Yarra Valley Classic, Muguruza dropped a total of ten games in matches against Alison Van Uytvanck, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Sofia Kenin, and
Markéta Vondroušová to make her first tour final since the
2020 Australian Open. In the final, she lost to world No. 1, Ash Barty, in straight sets.
At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Muguruza continued her run of good form with dominant wins over
Margarita Gasparyan,
Liudmila Samsonova
Liudmila Dmitrievna Samsonova ( rus, Людмила Дмитриевна Самсонова, , lʲʊdˈmʲiɫə sɐmˈsonəvə; born 11 November 1998) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 12 in singles ...
, and
Zarina Diyas
Zarina Diyas (; ; born 18 October 1993) is a Kazakh professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as No. 31 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Diyas has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2017 Japan Women' ...
to make her third consecutive second-week appearance at the Australian Open. In the fourth round, she lost to eventual champion
Naomi Osaka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 25 weeks, the first Asian player to hold the ...
in a three-setter where she held two match points in the final set. She then played the
Qatar Open where she defeated in-form Russian
Veronika Kudermetova
Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova (born 24 April 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, achieved on 24 October 2022, and a best WTA doubles ranking of No. 2, reached on 6 June 2022. In ...
, upset third seed and defending champion
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka (born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She is currently ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and is a former world No. 1 in women's doubles. ...
and avenged her Abu Dhabi loss to Maria Sakkari to make the semifinals. She was due to face Victoria Azarenka, but Azarenka withdrew due to a back injury. She then faced Petra Kvitová in a rematch of the 2018 final but was unable to avenge that defeat and was crushed in straight sets.
Her next tournament was in
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
. Seeded ninth, she reached the quarterfinals with straight set wins over Irina-Camelia Begu,
Amanda Anisimova
Amanda Kay Victoria Anisimova ( ; ; born August 31, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles WTA rankings, WTA ranking of world No. 13, achieved on 16 June 2025. Anisimova has won three WTA Tour titles, inc ...
and recent French Open champion
Iga Świątek
Iga Natalia Świątek (; born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women’s singles by the Women's Tennis Association, Women’s Tenn ...
. She then came from a set and a break down to repeat her Doha victory over
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka (born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She is currently ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and is a former world No. 1 in women's doubles. ...
to reach her third Dubai semifinal. She then defeated in form tenth seed
Elise Mertens
Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She became List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles on 10 May 2021, the third Belgian to hold the top ranking in either singles or ...
in two tight sets to reach her second consecutive final and her third of the year where she defeated
Barbora Krejčíková
Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles by the Wome ...
in straight sets for the title. This was her biggest title since
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
in 2017 and her first title since
Monterrey
Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...
in 2019. This also snapped her three-match losing streak in finals. She then competed at the
Miami Open and lost to
Bianca Andreescu
Bianca Vanessa Andreescu (; born June 16, 2000) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked world No. 4 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Andreescu has won two singles titles on the WTA T ...
in the fourth round in three sets. In the clay court swing, she participated in
Charleston and won her opening match before retiring in her next against
Yulia Putintseva
Yulia Antonovna Putintseva (, ; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 27 January 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 76 on 17 March 2025.
Puti ...
due to a left thigh injury which also caused her to withdraw from the
Madrid Open. She then entered the
Italian Open losing to Elina Svitolina in straight sets, after winning her first two rounds. Her berth at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
resulted in a shock first-round loss to Marta Kostyuk, in straight sets, in a match where she committed 40 unforced errors in two sets.
Following
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, where she reached the third round before losing to 21st seed
Ons Jabeur, Muguruza returned to the top 10 in the rankings.
After early exits from the
Canadian Open by Kateřina Siniaková and the
Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...
by
Barbora Krejčíková
Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles by the Wome ...
, Muguruza entered the
US Open as the ninth seed. She began her campaign with straight-set wins over
Donna Vekić in the first round and
Andrea Petkovic in the second round, which also gave her her first win over Petkovic in their head-to-head record. She then defeated 2020 US Open runner-up Azarenka in three sets before getting knocked out by Krejčíková in the fourth round, after Krejčíková called a controversial off-court medical time-out in the second set.
Next, Muguruza embarked on the inaugural
Chicago Classic and entered as the second seed. She had two straight-set wins over
Ann Li and
Mai Hontama in the second round and quarterfinals, respectively, but also received two walkovers from Azarenka and Markéta Vondroušová in the third round and semifinals, respectively, to reach the final. There, she met Jabeur and avenged her loss to her earlier this year after she won the match in three sets to receive her ninth career singles title. Following her win, she traveled to
Indian Wells, where she was upset in a three-set loss by Ajla Tomljanović in her first match there. She took on her last tournament of the year at the
Kremlin Cup in Moscow and won over
Tereza Martincová
Tereza Martincová (; born 24 October 1994) is a Czech professional tennis player.
Martincová has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour and four singles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 14 February 2022, she reached her best WTA singles ranking ...
in three sets in the second round before she was a dealt a straight-set
breadstick defeat by eventual champion Anett Kontaveit in the quarterfinals. Following her successful year, Muguruza qualified for the year-end
2021 WTA Finals. She reached the semifinals stage defeating Anett Kontaveit ending her 12 match-winning streak. She defeated
Paula Badosa in an all Spanish semifinal to reach the year-end tournament final for the first time in her career and to become the first Spanish player to reach the singles final since 1993. In the final, she defeated Anett Kontaveit in straight sets for the second time in the tournament, to win her first WTA Finals championship. She ended the year ranked No. 3.
2022: Loss of form, 300th WTA career win, out of top 50
Muguruza began her season at the
Sydney International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
where she was the second seed. After a first-round bye, Muguruza defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets, before losing in the quarterfinals to
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, achieved in October 2022. Kasatkina ha ...
in straight sets. Muguruza entered the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
as the third seed and beat
Clara Burel, in straight sets, in the first round. Muguruza was upset in the second round with a straight-sets loss to world No. 61, Alizé Cornet. At
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, Muguruza defeated
Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is the current List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. She also has a best singles WTA rankings, ranking of No. 27 by the W ...
in the first round, before being defeated in the second round by
Veronika Kudermetova
Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova (born 24 April 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, achieved on 24 October 2022, and a best WTA doubles ranking of No. 2, reached on 6 June 2022. In ...
. She reached her second quarterfinal of the year in
Doha
Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
, defeating
Sorana Cîrstea
Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea (; born 7 April 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. In singles, she achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 on 12 August 2013. In doubles, her career-best ranking is No. 35, which she reached on 9 March ...
and
Madison Brengle before being defeated in straight sets by Jeļena Ostapenko.
In receipt of a first-round bye at
Indian Wells, she was defeated in the second round by
Alison Riske-Amritraj; she next withdrew from
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
. On 29 April, she recorded her 300th WTA career win, defeating Ajla Tomljanović at
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
in the first round, before being defeated handily by
Anhelina Kalinina
Anhelina Serhiyivna Kalinina ( ; born 7 February 1997) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. On 22 May 2023, she reached her career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 25. She peaked at No. 92 in the doubles rankings in January 2025. She has ...
in the second round. After losing in her first match at
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
by
Yulia Putintseva
Yulia Antonovna Putintseva (, ; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 27 January 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 76 on 17 March 2025.
Puti ...
in three sets, Muguruza accepted a wild card into
Rabat
Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...
. Defeating lucky loser
Anna Danilina in the first round, she was defeated in the second round by
Martina Trevisan. A dismal clay court season was capped off by a first round defeat at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
to Kaia Kanepi. For the first time since 2013, Muguruza lost more matches on clay than she won, ending the season with a 2–4 record on the surface.
Entering
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
as the fifth seed, she was defeated in the first round by
Andrea Petkovic. In receipt of a first-round bye at
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...
, she defeated
Magdalena Fręch before falling to
Camila Giorgi
Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She had a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 26, which was achieved on 22 October 2018. Giorgi was known for her aggressive style of pla ...
. At
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, she was defeated in the first round by
Greet Minnen, winning just four games.
After withdrawing from
San Jose, Muguruza played her first match of the US hard court season at
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. In receipt of a first-round bye, she defeated Kaia Kanepi in the second round before losing to Belinda Bencic, winning just four games. In receipt of a first-round bye at
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, she was defeated in her opening match by Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. At the
US Open, Muguruza reached the third round after defeating
Clara Tauson and qualifier
Linda Fruhvirtová in straight sets. In the third round, she was defeated by Petra Kvitová, despite holding two match points in the third set. After failing to defend her fourth round points obtained last year, she fell out of the top ten of the rankings for the first time since July 2021.
In receipt of a first round bye at
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, she defeated
Despina Papamichail before losing in the quarterfinals to the eventual champion
Liudmila Samsonova
Liudmila Dmitrievna Samsonova ( rus, Людмила Дмитриевна Самсонова, , lʲʊdˈmʲiɫə sɐmˈsonəvə; born 11 November 1998) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 12 in singles ...
in straight sets. Next participating in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, Muguruza retired from her first round match due to abdominal injury against
Zheng Qinwen
Zheng Qinwen ( zh, , p=Zhèng Qīnwén, s=郑钦文; IPA: ; born 8 October 2002) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 4 in women's singles by the WTA, achieved in June 2025, and is only the second Chinese pla ...
after falling 0–5 down. She ended her disappointing season on a sad note after withdrawing from
Guadalajara Open due to illness. Due to poor results through the season, she finished the year out of top 50 for the first time since 2013.
2023-24: Injuries and retirement
Muguruza began her 2023 season at the
Adelaide International 1. As a wildcard entrant, she lost in the first round to Bianca Andreescu in three sets, despite having a set and a break lead. She took another wildcard in
Adelaide International 2, but lost again in the first round to
Belinda Bencic in straight sets. Unseeded at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
for the first time since 2020, she lost in the first round to 26th seed
Elise Mertens
Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She became List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles on 10 May 2021, the third Belgian to hold the top ranking in either singles or ...
in three sets. This marked her first loss in the opening round of the Australian Open since her debut in 2013.
She then took a wildcard at the
Lyon Open, where she lost in the first round in straight sets to qualifier
Linda Noskova.
This defeat, Muguruza's sixth consecutive loss dating to September 2022, would prove to be her last professional appearance. She announced afterwards she was taking a hiatus from tennis, initially withdrawing from the Middle Eastern and American hard court tournaments. She later announced that she would be extending her break from tennis, withdrawing from all events up to the end of the grass court season. In an interview towards the end of 2023, she stated that she had "no intention" to return to the WTA Tour, as she was enjoying her hiatus. Muguruza formally announced her retirement from tennis on 20 April 2024 at the age of 30, ending a 12-year career.
Playing style
Muguruza was an aggressive all-court player, whose game is centered around her flat, powerful groundstrokes. Her groundstrokes allow her to take time away from her opponents and dictate baseline rallies, despite the fact that Muguruza may often refrain from going for the lines, or hitting outright winners. Retired tennis player
Agnieszka Radwańska
Agnieszka Roma Radwańska (; born 6 March 1989) is a Polish former professional tennis player and current coach. She was ranked world No. 2 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), in July 2012. Radwańska won 20 WTA Tour sing ...
described Muguruza's playing style as being "very explosive, especially from every shot. So forehand, backhand, serve, return, everything is coming to you so fast."
Her first serve is powerful, being recorded as high as , allowing her to serve numerous aces in any match, and dictate play from the first stroke.
Coaches
She was coached by
Alejo Mancisidor from 2010 to 2015, but she then hired Sam Sumyk in 2015. Muguruza split from Sumyk in 2019, and began working again with
Conchita Martínez
Conchita Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and current coach. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at Wimbledon, doing so in 1994. Martínez also was the runner-up at th ...
that November. Martinez previously coached Muguruza at
2017 Wimbledon, where she won the title.
Outside tennis
Endorsements
Muguruza has been endorsed by
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...
for clothing, footwear, and apparel since 2012, and frequently wears the range designed by
Stella McCartney. Throughout her career, Muguruza has been endorsed by
Babolat for racquets, specifically using the Pure Drive collection. She was named the ambassador for
Mazda
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. ...
Spain in June 2014 and for
BBVA bank in December 2014. Her other endorsement partners are
Rolex
Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...
,
Evian
Evian (, ; , stylized as evian) is a French brand that bottles mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva.
Evian is owned by Danone, a French multinational corporation. In addition to the miner ...
,
Jaguar Cars
Jaguar (, ) is the sports car and luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational corporation, multinational automaker, car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that ...
,
Nivea
Nivea (, stylized as NIVEA) is a German personal care brand that specializes in skin and body care. It is owned by the Hamburg-based company Beiersdorf Global AG, who also makes the Eucerin brand. ''Nivea'' comes from the Latin adjective ''ni ...
,
Beats Electronics
Beats Electronics, LLC (also known as Beats by Dr. Dre, Beats by Dre or simply Beats) is an American consumer audio products manufacturer headquartered in Culver City, California. The company was founded in 2006 by the music producer Dr. Dre and ...
, and
Maui Jim. In June 2016, she was named the 14th most marketable athlete by
SportsPro.
Philanthropy
In June 2017, shortly before winning her first Wimbledon women's singles crown, Muguruza announced that she had become an Ambassador for the international education NGO
Room to Read
In a building or a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure. The entrance connects it to either a passageway, another room, or the outdoors. The space is t ...
. Muguruza announced plans to help the organisation grow its impact in the areas of early grade literacy and equal access to secondary education for girls.
Laureus Ambassador
In April 2024 she announced her new role as an ambassador for
Laureus Sport for Good.
Personal life
In 2023, she announced her engagement to Arthur Borges. They were married in October 2024.
Former No.1 Muguruza marries Arthur Borges in Spain
Career statistics
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
Grand Slam tournament finals
Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muguruza, Garbine
Garbiñe Muguruza,
1993 births
Living people
Tennis players from Caracas
Tennis players from Barcelona
Spanish female tennis players
Olympic tennis players for Spain
Venezuelan female tennis players
Sportspeople of Venezuelan descent
Spanish people of Basque descent
Venezuelan people of Basque descent
Venezuelan emigrants to Spain
French Open champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Wimbledon champions
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players
ITF World Champions
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
21st-century Spanish sportswomen