When the authorities canceled Indian Wells back in March because of the Coronavirus pandemic, players and fans were left in astonished as it seemed to be something impossible to imagine such an event to be wiped out. Unfortunately, that was just the very beginning of an extremely tough period as tennis has been halted for long, and the tours will not be back before August.
Garbine Muguruza appeared on Vogue Magazine as she had the opportunity of having an article published. The Spaniard described her feelings when the sport was halted and the fact that she had to cope with a “great emptiness.”
Garbine had to a good idea of spending the lockdown days at Lake Geneva and she admitted that she had to finally look beyond tennis to focus her attention also on education. Therefore, Garbine decided to take a psychology course from the Johns Hopkins University, a couple of courses on nutrition and health from Stanford University, and an exercise course from the University of Colorado.
“I thought that it would be impossible to cancel a competition of such magnitude, but in the end we received the news that we did not want to hear.
We had snapped out of our pro tennis circuit bubble. What was coming upon us was much bigger and more serious.”
“I was not prepared, especially for the great emptiness that I felt when I could not do what I know best: play tennis. Since I was three years old, I’ve lived with a racquet in my hand and for one objective.
It’s life elbowing you and saying, ‘Hey, there is more to life than tennis, maybe this is a good moment to get ready for when that day comes. When you have to hang up the racquet.
From every bad situation you can always find a message, and today, mine is to lift my gaze up and look beyond what I know and explore the things that are inside of me”
Garbine Muguruza in 2020
Ranked world no.16, the Spaniard played her last match on the 27th of February when she was defeated by Ashleigh Barty 6-1 6-74 6-2 in the quarter in Doha.
Garbine Muguruza’s best result of the current season was reaching the final at the Australian Open.