Reigning women’s Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza has heaped praise on her countryman Rafael Nadal, calling the men’s No. 1 as the perfect role model for Spanish youngsters.
Muguruza defeated Venus Williams to be crowned as the Wimbledon winner at this year’s Championships, thus becoming only the second Spanish woman after Conchita Martínez in 1994 to claim the biggest prize in tennis. One of the most interesting stat about Muguruza is that she is the only female athlete to win her first two Grand Slam titles by beating the Williams sisters.
While she secured her maiden Major win at the French Open in 2016 after demolishing Serena in straight sets and yet again in 2017, the 24-year-old repeated the same act against Venus, overpowering her at Centre Court to take her Slam count to 2. She then briefly became No. 1 before Romania’s Simona Halep supplanted her from the top spot after the Spaniard failed to make a deep run at any of the tournaments during the Asian leg of the WTA tour.
Despite being ranked No. 2 in the rankings, she was crowned World Champion by the sport’s governing body, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Friday.
“Becoming ITF World Champion in such a competitive year is amazing for me,” Muguruza said.
“And (it) is even more special because Rafa has also been awarded on the men’s side. He is a great role model for all of us, so it is a great moment for tennis in Spain.”
“I knew that putting in the hard work would pay off eventually and it made winning Wimbledon and achieving the No 1 ranking so special. I’m motivated to take everything I’ve learned this year and apply it to my work next season.”
The two-time Grand Slam champion is undergoing training to prepare for 2018’s opening Major, the Australian Open where she will try to better her previous best performance of progressing through to the quarterfinals which she accomplished this year.
