Garbiñe Muguruza is not living its best season. We are in the middle of the year 2022 and the Spanish-Venezuelan has a record of wins and losses that is not in keeping with her status as a player, with her position in the WTA ranking over the last few months. We know of her proven irregularity at some moments of each year, but we have also seen Garbiñe transform and channel all the tennis that she carries within her to put, after all, more than respectable figures at the end of each season . However, summer arrives and Muguruza has only managed seven wins in this 2022, an absolute contrast to the ten losses that has added, some quite painful.
His winning percentage, a 41.2% winsis he worse he has ever recorded in any season as a professional. Not even in 2012, his first season on tour, did he have such a disparate background (42.9% winning percentage). If we look at it from a statistical point of view, the crisis seems more than evident: the numbers support it, the sensations endorse it and the green shoots are far from being seen. Muguruza hasn’t worn a short since he finished Roland Garros 2022where he added another defeat in the first round, and the arrival of Wimbledon 2022 does not seem to announce a radical change to his season. However, maybe, and just maybe, it’s just what you need to revive yourself.
We know perfectly well what Garbiñe can do on the London mat. It is the only Grand Slam in which he has reached two finalsand probably at the All England Tennis Club he experienced the most special moment of his career, back in 2017. A young Hispanic-Venezuelan mercilessly subjected Venus Wiliams to consecrate herself in La Catedral, one of the culminating moments of her career, the day she felt like the greatest hierarch of the circuit. And yes, all of that is quite far away, but the possibility of going back to that happy moment and recovering beautiful moments could be something in his mind, perhaps the boost he needs to make everything click again.
On the negative side, of course, is his balance just after that tournament. It has not passed the third round after triumphing in London, living three rather gray editions on British grass. However, there is a stylistic issue that, immersed in such a huge drop in results, could benefit Garbiñe. We have already seen the main problem of the Spanish in recent months: his inability to close matches, his little self-control when it comes to closing exchanges and his low tolerance for receiving one more ball, especially in moments of pressure. If there is something about grass, it is that it ‘simplifies’ things much more: the power in your first or second shot can be enough to close the point, and the dynamics of the matches is much faster, which makes you think less, your tennis is less cerebral. All this could greatly help Garbiñe, who also has a factor that can make things easier: very few people have her for the title (or even reach the final rounds).
A MATTER OF TIME
Muguruza repeated during his last press conference that I was convinced that the results would come. That he knew where the focus of the problem was and that he would continue playing until he could find that tournament where things did go well, where the small details in which trust has a huge impact can finally smile on him. He knows what he’s capable of at Wimbledon, it’s the most immediate Grand Slam and maybe the last life jacket to hold on to. Continuing with this dynamic between now and the end of the year, where he might not have the chance to defend his title at the WTA Finals, could mean a setback in the ranking. It is the moment of hope and all or nothing… Will weed be the revulsive you need?
