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Watch: Muguruza on Love-Hate Relationship With Grass


There once was a time when Garbiñe Muguruza approached grass season with all the enthusiasm of root canal surgery.

"I had a love and hate with Wimbledon because at the beginning (it) was hard for me," Muguruza told the media at Wimbledon. "With the time, I've get more used to grass. Before was like hard. But now I'm completely change."

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Times have changed and the newly-crowned Roland Garros champion is excited by the benefits her aggressive baseline game yields on lawn, while conceding movement can still be a challenge.

"I have a very aggressive game. My shots are pretty aggressive and strong and deep, and I go for the shot," Muguruza said. "On grass, maybe you kind of feel more that fast game.

"The bad things? I think sometimes it's hard to run on grass. On clay you can, like, slice. On hard court, you can grab more here. It's like sometimes I'm too tall, I don't know, feel weird sometimes."

The world No. 2 returns to The Championships a different player from the one who fell to world No. 1 Serena Williams, 6-4, 6-4, in her first Wimbledon final last July.

 

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A photo posted by Garbiñe Muguruza (@garbimuguruza) on



The powerful Spaniard swept Williams in the French Open final to capture her first major title with her second Grand Slam win over Williams. Muguruza says she's the same person and player she was before lighting up Paris.

"Nothing has changed for me to look at Wimbledon different," Muguruza said. "I'm actually thinking that I'm weird to be back here because of last year, not because of a Grand Slam winner just two weeks ago. It's rare to be back here. I'm, like, so quick and a lot of things had happened in between. I mean, I can't believe it. But I didn't see a (difference)."

Of course, the biggest difference is Muguruza enters SW19 as the second favorite, behind Serena, to win Wimbledon and has a shot to surpass Williams for the top spot if the reigning champion is upset early. How will she cope with the pressure?

In her lone grass-court tune-up match, Muguruza lost to former Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens in her Mallorca Open opener earlier this month. The new Grand Slam champion knows she wears a bulls-eye on her back at Wimbledon.

The second-seeded Spaniard will play hard-hitting Italian Camila Giorgi in her Wimbledon opener. Muguruza isn't taking anything for granted.

"I don't feel difference because I'm so convinced that not because winning French Open I'm going to come here and this is miracle and I'm going to win every match," Muguruza said. "I've been in the situation where you win a lot of matches, and then suddenly, you know, you lose. You're like, Oh, I thought I was going to win. I don't take anything for granted. I'm going for the first match, like everyone else, from zero."

Photo credit: AELTC/Jon Buckle

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