“For the most part, she doesn’t” Martina Navratilova unsure of a good French Open run by former champion Garbine Muguruza
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Garbine Muguruza and Martina Navratilova
World No. 10 Garbine Muguruza has not had a great time this season. Having finished the last season on a winning note by becoming the first Spanish Year-End Championship winner at the 2021 WTA Finals, Muguruza started the year as the World No. 3 but things have gone southwards for the Spaniard since.
This season, she has played just 15 matches losing 8 of those and has registered consecutive wins only once so far. She is 5-5 on hardcourts and 2-3 on claycourts going into the 2022 French Open where she is confirmed to be seeded. Being a former champion at the Roland Garros in 2016 when she won the title dropping only 1 set in the tournament and given her successful end to the 2021 season, former World no. 1 Martina Navratilova had big expectations from her from the start of the season but Garbine has failed to deliver on it.
Speaking with the WTA on the chances of a few of the former champions of the French Open who will be playing this year, Navratilova did not look quite sure whether Muguruza could make a deep run in the Grand Slam given her poor form this season which has also seen her just be on the brink of dropping outside the Top-10.
“Sometimes she looks relaxed when she’s playing, but for the most part, she doesn’t. [Coach] Conchita [Martinez] has been able to relax her in the past. When Garbine won Wimbledon, she just walked differently. She had this aura of I belong here and I own this. And now, even when she’s playing offensive, she looks defensive. Obviously, she’s not pleased with how it’s going. After winning the WTA Finals, I thought it was going to spring her,” said Martina.
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Garbine Muguruza’s record at the French Open
Muguruza is one of the few players who has made an exit in every round of the French Open right from the qualifiers. She lost in the 2012 qualifiers before making her main-draw debut in 2013 reaching the second round. She reached the quarter-finals in the next two years before winning the title in 2016 when she beat Serena Williams for her first-ever major.
Her title defence next year ended in the 4th round but she returned well reaching the semi-finals in 2018. She faced another 4th round exit in 2019 before going out in the third round in 2020 followed by a shocking first-round exit in the 2021 French Open to Marta Kostyuk. Muguruza has a 31-9 record at the Grand Slam and will be looking to improve on it this year being in one of the leanest patches of her career.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)