Garbine Muguruza has pulled out of the next two Grand Slam tournaments after announcing that she will not play again until the summer.
The former Wimbledon champion is currently ranked outside of the world’s top 100 and has been absent from the Tour since her first round defeat at the Lyon Open in February. Shortly after she withdrew from a tournament in Abu Dhabi due to personal reasons.
“I have been spending time with family and friends and it’s really healthy and amazing,” Muguruza wrote on Instagram.
“So I am going to lengthen this period until the summer. Therefore I am going to miss the clay and grass season.”
Muguruza’s break from the Tour follows a six-match losing streak. Her last win occurred back in September at the Toray Pan Pacific Open where she defeated Greece’s Despina Papamichail who at the time was ranked 213th in the world.
The Spaniard started 2022 at No.3 in the world as a result of her triumph at the WTA Finals just a couple of months earlier. However, last season didn’t go as planned for Muguruza who won just 12 matches. In total, she played in 17 tournaments but only managed to score back-to-back victories in two of them.
During an interview with The Nation newspaper earlier this year, the 29-year-old admitted she put too much pressure on herself last year and is now focused on trying to enjoy herself more on the court.
“I feel that this year it’s more about keeping it calm and more simple,” she said. “Last year I put myself under a lot of pressure, telling myself to keep going to stay at the top all the time. That definitely didn’t help me, and it was a bit of a struggle.
“This year, yes ranking is important – I’ve been at every possible ranking – but that is not my priority anymore. Now it’s about enjoying my time on court and taking the trophies back home, then we’ll see what the ranking is.”
Muguruza has won 10 WTA titles during her career, including the 2016 French Open and 2017 Wimbledon Championships. She has also ended three seasons inside the world’s top five.
She has given no details about when in the summer she will return to professional tennis.
