Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza is eyeing a return to the top of the WTA rankings. The top spot is currently held by Caroline Wozniacki after the Dane won the Australian Open at the end of January.
Muguruza, who reached the summit of the women’s rankings just before the US Open last year, has struggled with a leg injury and that’s why, she has not been able to accomplish the desired results so far in 2018.
However, last week she did make a run to the final of the Qatar Open in Doha before losing to two-time Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova and is confident of continuing her good form in the ongoing tournament in Dubai. The World No. 3 will open her Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships campaign against CiCi Bellis on Wednesday.
“It is important,” said Muguruza. “I always have it in my mind, to be able to fight for that. It was a great feeling to be there [number one], even though it’s tough. I know it’s the hardest one, but I’m going to be there, try to.
“You realize a lot of things when you’re there. You’re like, ‘I’m here, I can’t go more up, all I can do is go down. There’s all these girls that want my spot, I have to defend it. You have this, like, alarm all the time’.
“I was already number one last year, it’s less dramatic. I always know there’s a chance. That’s fine for me.”
Muguruza reckoned that she was getting better and better and was close to regaining her best form.
“I think I’m trying. I think I improved that a lot,” Muguruza told reporters in Dubai on Tuesday.
“When you’re younger, you’re always dreaming about winning Grand Slams. You don’t feel that excited when it’s not Wimbledon. But it’s normal. Every player has that.
“Once you are in a Grand Slam, you’re like, ‘Okay this is history’. I learned with the years that all the WTA events are important. We have even huge tournaments.
“It is the key also to be in the top spots because you need to perform constantly good, constantly moving forward in the big tournaments. Only with magic and few tournaments a year, it’s tough to be in this spot.”
