Former world number one Garbine Muguruza was relieved to finally avoid tripping at the last hurdle and end her trophy drought on Saturday in Dubai, the Spaniard’s first WTA singles title in almost two years.
The 27-year-old Muguruza had last won a tournament at Monterrey, Mexico, in April, 2019. Since then she reached the title rounds at the 2020 Australian Open, Yarra Valley Classic in Melbourne in February and last week’s event in Doha.
“It means a lot, it’s never easy to win titles,” Muguruza told reporters after her 7-6(6) 6-3 win over Czech Barbora Krejcikova.
“It doesn’t happen often, and I’m excited that it happened now, after a few finals that didn’t go my way. A nice relief to be able to hold a champion’s trophy and not the finalist’s trophy.”
The strongly built Spaniard won her maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 2016 and bagged her second at Wimbledon the following year to climb to the top of the women’s rankings. She is ranked 16th but leads the WTA tour with 18 victories during the 2021 season.
“Definitely it helps the confidence having a trophy under your belt,” Muguruza said. “It’s a sign, a real proof that you’re playing well, that you’re doing the right things.
“But I’ve always been very determined in that way and believed in myself. I always believe every time I go out there that I’m one of the players that can get the trophy... and I’ve always believed that in good moments and in bad moments.”
Muguruza said the last two weeks have been mentally challenging for her after her coach, Conchita Martinez, tested positive for the new coronavirus after arriving in Doha for the Qatar Open.
Playing 10 straight matches was also physically very demanding.
“Very hard nowadays because I feel like the level is much stronger,” said Muguruza. “I feel really everybody can win a tournament. This is how hard women’s tennis is now and very happy that I managed to, for two weeks, reach the last match.”
Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev did not need the points from Sunday’s triumph in Marseille to replace Rafa Nadal as world number two but the Russian said it was a great feeling to claim a 10th ATP title as he climbed another rung on the ladder.
Medvedev’s rise up the rankings was confirmed earlier this month with Nadal not playing tournaments since the Australian Open to recover from a back injury. With the official release of the rankings on Monday, Medvedev became the first player outside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Nadal to be ranked in the top two since Lleyton Hewitt in July 2005. The celebrations started a day earlier for the 25-year-old when he won 6-4 6-7(4) 6-4 against unseeded Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the final of the ATP 500 event.
“I knew that I would become No.2 no matter what on Monday... It is always better when you step up the rankings when you do something great,” Medvedev said.
“I know that winning here didn’t give me the points to become No.2, but it is great for the self-esteem that just before becoming No.2 on Monday, I win a tournament.”
Medvedev reached the Australian Open final last month, his second Grand Slam decider after the 2019 US Open, on the back of a 20-match winning streak through the Paris Masters, ATP Finals and team-based ATP Cup that included 12 straight wins over top-10 opponents. His run ended with defeat to world number one Djokovic in the Melbourne final, and he then suffered a shock loss to Serbian Dusan Lajovic at Rotterdam.
After that blip, however, Medvedev was back to winnings ways in Marseille where he picked up his 10th Tour title — all on hardcourts.
“I am really happy about the number 10. It gets me to two digits, something which I dreamt of when I was a kid,” said Medvedev.
“I think it is already a great number, but I am going to try to work more and get some more... I really like to play on hard courts. I feel like that is where my game suits me the best.”
Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
