Garbine Muguruza’s coach Conchita Martinez makes history by winning WTA Coach of the Year 2021

Former World No. 2 and the champion at the 1994 Wimbledon Championships Conchita Martinez was honoured with the WTA Coach of the Year 2021 for guiding Garbine Muguruza to three titles during the 2021 season including the 2021 WTA Finals making Muguruza the first Spanish woman to win the Year-End Championships.

Having paired up with Garbine as a part-time coach that saw Muguruza win the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, her second Grand Slam title. After two years as head coach of Karolina Pliskova, Muguruza called back Martinez as her full-time coach in the hopes of reviving her career that had taken a slump that had seen her exit the Top-30.

As the head coach during the 2021 season, Conchita helped Muguruza win the WTA-1000 Dubai Championships, the inaugural WTA-500 Chicago Classic and the WTA Finals. Muguruza also finished as the runner-up at the Yara Valley Classic in Melbourne and the Qatar Open. In a fantastic run in the final few weeks of the season, Muguruza finished the year ranked 3rd.

These results have helped Martinez win her maiden WTA Coach of the Year title and also makes her the first woman coach to be honoured with the award that was started in 2018. Until now, Sascha Baijin in 2018 (Naomi Osaka), Craig Tyzzer in 2019 (Ash Barty) and Piotr Sierzputowski in 2020 (Iga Swiatek) had won the award, making Conchita the first female winner of the award.

Conchita Martinez and Garbine Muguruza looking to turn things around in coming weeks

After a disappointing start to her campaign after the finish last season, Muguruza is yet to win three consecutive matches so far this season. She lost in the second round of the 2022 Australian Open and the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships. Her twin wins at the Qatar Open was the first time she won two matches on the trot this season before losing in the quarter-finals to Jelena Ostapenko.

Muguruza will now be playing at the 2022 Indian Wells Open where she will be looking to get some good results as she is separated by less than 300 points from 11th placed Danielle Collins.

Also Read: Indian Wells 2022: Women’s Singles Draw Preview and Prediction for BNP Paribas Open