By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, February 9, 2018
"Returning to work next to Garbine is very gratifying," said Conchita Martinez said.
Photo credit: Getty
Garbiñe Muguruza is reinforcing her coaching team reuniting with a Wimbledon champion.
Conchita Martinez, who coached Muguruza to the Wimbledon title last July, has returned to the 24-year-old Spaniard's team and will work alongside coach Sam Sumyk during upcoming events in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami.
By the Numbers: Williams Sisters, Fed Cup and More
The two-time Grand Slam champion announced the move on Twitter.
"Returning to work next to Garbine is very gratifying," Martinez said. "She is a great professional and hard working, she demands a lot and so it is a great challenge for me to start this new stage with her."
The fourth-ranked Spaniard is aiming to jump-start her season after a disappointing start. Muguruza has yet to win back-to-back matches this season, including tumbling out of the Australian Open with a 7-6 (1), 6-4, loss to 88th-ranked Su-Wei Hsieh.
Last summer, Martinez stepped in for Sumyk, who was home for his wife's pregnancy, to coach Muguruza to the Wimbledon title.
Muguruza denied set points in the 10th game then charged through eight straight games blasting past Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0, to capture her first Wimbledon championship in July. She joined 1994 Wimbledon winner Martinez as the second Spanish woman to win Wimbledon.
A beaming Martinez raised her right arm in the support box showing the goose-bumps popping from her skin that day.
Martinez captained both the Spanish Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams last season. The RFET did not renew Martinez’s pact as captain.
Former French Open champions Sergi Bruguera and Anabel Medina Garrigues were named new Spanish Davis Cup and Fed Cup captains. Both Bruguera and Medina signed two-year agreements to serve as Spanish captains starting on January 1st.