With the title of Garbiñe Muguruza in the WTA Finals of Guadalajara 2021, it is normal for the fan to take out the notebook to list the titles that the Spanish women’s tennis accumulates in its long history. However, at this point in the film, we finish before reviewing what we still have to conquer. If we open a fan with Grand Slam, WTA 1000 and team competitions, the few empty spaces that we have left to complete all the trivial questions are striking. Let’s go sector by sector, investigating when our next goal might arrive.
GRAND SLAM
We will start by looking at the four large squares; for many, the most important events of this sport. Honestly, it is a privilege to boast loudly having won Roland Garros four times in the singles category, twice at Wimbledon and once at the US Open. They are not colossal numbers – gentlemen, we are not the United States – but what few countries can say such a thing. However, with the Open de Australia we never hit the key.
Melbourne is the only room we never had access to, the escape room unresolved, and that there were a few occasions where we stayed at the door. The first was Arantxa Sánchez Vicario with the finals of 1994 (Graf) and 1995 (Pierce). Later Conchita Martínez would join, but in 1998 she could not with Hingis either. Finally, a much more recent memory, we have fresh the surprising fall of Garbiñe Muguruza against Sofia Kenin in the outcome of 2020. By opportunities, of course, it has not been.
CLASSIC AND OTHER MODERN EVENTS
Just below the Grand Slam, appears the famous tournament of teachers, known officially as the WTA Finals. Here it is not necessary to go very far, since Garbiñe Muguruza became the first Spanish of the Open Era to be champion a few weeks ago, at the same time that she avenged Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and that silver tray collected in 1993 against Graf. Curiously, that year a girl born in Caracas would come into the world who 28 years later would put things in their place.
Diving into other high-caliber tournaments within the circuit, we once again puff our chests to exclaim that ours won, at some point in history, the Indian Wells, Miami, Canada, Cincinnati, Rome or Hamburg tournaments. We can expand a bit more and add the events in Doha, Dubai, Berlin, Beijing, San José (we won this one based in Oakland) or Moscow. Many of them were losing weight in the calendar, others grew in prestige, there are even those who have changed cities over time.
Where we have never been able to succeed, under any circumstance or modification, has been in Stuttgart (tournament played in Filderstadt between 1978 and 2005), Wuhan (modern contest where Garbiñe made final in 2015) or our dear Mutua Madrid Open, surely the most striking case of all. For being at home, for being on clay, and for finding the most possible facilities there, but none of this worked. The Armada Women never found the formula since this tournament was installed in the capital of Spain in 2009, we do not even know what it is to play a final.
TEAM TOURNAMENTS
We close our series with team events, the weeks where the players represent their countries as well as themselves. On Olympic GamesDespite having medals of all colors and flavors adding boys and girls, ours never managed to hang the gold, not even in doubles. On singles, the closest we stayed was in Atlanta 1996, when Arantxa Sánchez Vicario lost the final to Lindsay Davenport and the public that turned to the American. To this day, that money is our roof.
Things were much better for us at that time in the Federation Cup, a competition that from this year was renamed Bille Jean King Cup. Spain, with the best generation of talent that we remember, lifted the title five times in a hairpin of eight years. An absolute dominance reinforced by the commitment and identity of some players who never turned their back on a call. Those times where playing for your country appeared at the top of the priority list.
·ABSTRACT·
Thus, these are the historical temples that still resist falling into the hands of Spanish women’s tennis: Australian Open, Olympic Games, Stuttgart, Mutua Madrid Open and Wuhan. Five wounds that do not tarnish the entire mosaic.
- 0 Open de Australia
- 4 Roland Garros (Arantxa: 1989, 1994, 1998; Muguruza: 2016)
- 2 Wimbledon (Conchita: 1994; Muguruza: 2017)
- 1 US Open (Arantxa: 1994)
- 1 WTA Finals (Muguruza: 2021)
- 0 Olympic Games
- 5 Billie Jean King Cup (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998)
- 1 Indian Wells (Badosa: 2021)
- 2 Miami (Arantxa: 1992,1993)
- 1 Doha (Carla: 2016)
- 1 Dubai (Muguruza: 2021)
- 0 Stuttgart
- 0 Madrid
- 5 Rome (Conchita: 1993-1996; María José Martínez: 2010)
- 4 Hamburgo (Arantxa: 1993, 1994, 1996; Conchita: 1995)
- 3 Berlin (Arantxa: 1995; Conchita: 1998, 2000)
- 1 San José (Arantxa, 1994)
- 2 Canada (Arantxa: 1992, 1994)
- 1 Cincinnati (Muguruza, 2017)
- 1 Beijing (Muguruza, 2015)
- 0 Wuhan
- 1 Moscow (Conchita, 1996)
What do you think will be the next sticker we put on the album? Will we see it in 2022? Which player will make it happen? We read you!
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