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Communication can be cathartic.
Garbiñe Muguruza opens up on the physical and mental challenges of life without tennis during the coronavirus in an article she wrote for Vogue Spain.
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The two-time Grand Slam champion was in Indian Wells with coach Conchita Martinez and her team preparing to play the BNP Paribas Open in March when the first cases of COVID-19 hit Palm Springs.
The Australian Open finalist, who has been spending the sport's shutdown at her home in Switzerland, shares the isolation and loneliness she's felt without tennis.
"When I planted myself in my house confused and without any plan, I know: Now what?" Muguruza writes. "Have you ever wondered and now what do I do to entertain myself?
"My life, in which I am used to a frenetic pace of travel, pressure and physical effort, has been stopped from one day to the next. I was not prepared, especially for the great emptiness that I felt when I could not do what I know best: play tennis. And especially, she was not prepared not to be able to fill that time with anything that compares to her."
The former world No. 1 says this is the longest break she's had from the sport since ankle surgery nearly a decade ago.
"Did you know that I have never been in the same site for more than a month? I am breaking a record," Muguruza writes. "The last time was when I had ankle surgery and I couldn't walk for several months. That is almost a decade ago."
The coronavirus-induced sabbatical from the sport has given the 26-year-old Spaniard perspective on life after tennis.
"Since I was three years old, I have lived with the racket in hand for and for a single purpose," Muguruza writes. "When all that disappears due to force majeure, life elbows you and says to you: 'Hey, there are many more things than tennis, maybe it is a good time to prepare for when that day comes.' For when you have to hang up your racket."
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve