• Finalist: The secrets of the return of the best version of Garbiñe Muguruza
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  • Opinion Garbiñe Muguruza was born for days like this

When looking for explanations when resurfacing Garbiñe Muguruza, you should go to what he has been doing since early last October in Beijing ended his worst season since he broke into the elite with a defeat in the first round against Sofia Kenin , the same woman who will meet this Saturday (09.30, Eurosport) on the other side of the network at the Australian Open final, where she will look for her third Grand Slam title. The most important and revealing decision came on the bench, when she announced the hiring of Conchita Martínez as a coach, once the Wimbledon champion in 1994 ended her contractual relationship with Petra Kvitova. “Too often in the last two years, Garbiñe seemed to play scared, she looked unhappy and fearful on the track, as if she was continuously worried about losing. Of course, when you think like that, you end up losing. Now Muguruza has regained his champion mentality. [...] What has changed? I have two words for you: Conchita Martínez, ”he wrote this Friday in his column on the WTA website Martina Navratilova , winner of 18 Grand Slam titles and victim of Conchita in that unforgettable final on the London grass.

In just one month, since the season began reaching the semifinals in Shenzhen, Muguruza has won 11 matches, the same number of victories obtained between the first week of April of last year and the aforementioned closing of the course, in almost six months of competition .

Garbiñe reached the Wimbledon final in 2015, and entered the top ten at the hands of Alejo Mancisidor , and won his two Grand Slam titles alongside Sam Sumyk . Matiz: the French coach, with whom the relationship was tense in an extraordinary way, as reflected by television cameras in certain parties, was on paternity leave while Conchita Martínez took her place at Wimbledon, in 2017, when the Spanish-Venezuelan became With the cup. Conchita joined the Garbiñe team, again with Sumyk in command, on the 2018 American spring tour, but the experiment did not work.

Maximum involvement

Already with Conchita in command of the operations, after working under the advice of Anabel Medina , captain of the Spanish team of the Federation Cup, since she did without Sumyk, after falling in the first round of the last Wimbledon, she was involved as never in the preseason . A week of work in Geneva, where he resides, and another four in San Diego, with the aim of adjusting his always remarkable tennis machinery from a demanding physical strengthening. Santiago de Martino , physical trainer, and Cathrin Junker , physiotherapist, are also part of the renewal in his team.

At 26, he still has ample room for improvement, which must come from sufficient arguments not to rely exclusively on two or three strokes to define the points. Garbiñe, who is already guaranteed to be 16th in the ranking and will be 11th if he wins the title, surpassed Simona Halep in the semifinals, small, fast, willing to face long in the rallies, with 39 degrees in the Rod Laver Arena, in the hottest day Melbourne has endured in this edition of the Australian Open. And he did it knowing how to mix his congenital aggressiveness, culminated with 20 successful rises to the network in 30 approaches, with enough fortitude when the exchanges were dilated. Garbiñe has stopped playing Russian roulette.

Conchita Martínez's influence also manifests itself in a much more serene mood. Volcanic player, of enormous temperament, Muguruza had entered that dangerous inertia pointed out by Navratilova. Drowned by anxiety, by training methods where a permanent pique was appealed, she entered a well whose bottom was difficult to sweep.

Today it will not be easy against American Kenin, 14th favorite, at 21 and 80 days, the youngest finalist since Maria Sharapova in 2008 . A tight final appears, as the records of both dictate throughout the tournament. But beyond the outcome, the season will dictate whether we are facing a new Garbiñe, determined to discuss the future for the emerging generation. Better could not start.

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