“This trophy, like right now here, these are the best feelings” Garbine Muguruza on Cloud-7 after winning the 2021 WTA Finals

“This trophy, like right now here, these are the best feelings” Garbine Muguruza on Cloud-7 after winning the 2021 WTA Finals

Garbine Muguruza with the 2021 WTA Finals Trophy

Garbine Muguruza broke multiple records on Wednesday when the Spaniard defeated Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit in the finals of the 2021 WTA Finals which concluded the 2021 season on the WTA Tour in Guadalajara in Mexico. Muguruza won the match 6-3, 7-5 to win her 10th career title and her biggest title on hardcourts.

Muguruza came back from a break-down in the second set and then won the last four games of the match to clinch the title that made her the first Spanish woman to win the WTA Finals Singles trophy and at the age of 28, Muguruza is now the oldest player to emerge as the champion at the Year-End Championships.

“Overall I think it’s the best year for me. I might not have won a Grand Slam, but I deeply feel like I’ve been happier and more stable, less dramatic, and in general very happy about it. Right now I feel extremely happy and relieved because it’s a tournament that I’ve struggled at the beginning, then I managed to play well,” Muguruza said in her post-match press conference.

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“I think I’m staying composed a little bit now because it means really a lot to me to win such a big, big, big tournament, the [WTA Finals] in Latin America, here in Mexico. I think it’s just perfect. I’m just very happy I proved to myself once again I can be the best, I can be the maestra, like how we say in Spanish. That puts me in a very good position for next year, a good ranking,” added Muguruza.

Garbine Muguruza expected to finish the year as World No. 3

Garbine Muguruza
Garbine Muguruza

Muguruza entered the tournament as the World No. 5, having won two titles, the WTA-1000 Dubai Championships and then the WTA-500 Chicago Classic in October that boosted her chances of making it to Guadalajara where she entered as the 6th seeded player.

Muguruza defeated Kontaveit twice this week, first in their round-robin clash which ended Anett’s streak of 12 consecutive wins and then again in the finals. Kontaveit in her last 33 matches has 29 wins and 4 defeats to her name, 2 of which were inflicted on her by Muguruza.

“It’s just the payoff for such a long year. My team and I worked hard. It pays off. Just shows us that we’re doing the right way. This trophy, like right now here, these are the best feelings. Not even the ranking. Just to actually touch this and I take it home, it’s in the story, it’s in my curriculum. It’s the way of, like, ‘I did it,'” Muguruza said.

“The last couple of years, I didn’t play the same way I played before. I always believe I made finals of a Grand Slam, reached the rankings, I’m like, I have the tennis, I just have to show it. It’s hard, of course. But I didn’t play bad tennis, either. I was just here, there, not going into the deep rounds at Grand Slams that made the difference.

“I always felt I had the tennis. I was just not putting the battle together,” added Muguruza who will now take some time off before she begins preparation for the upcoming 2022 Australian Open where she will be a favourite after her heroics this week in Mexico and being the runner-up at the 2020 Australian Open.

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