By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
“I’ve never seen a match turn on a dime like that” said Pam Shriver on ESPN of the 2017 Wimbledon final between Garbine Muguruza and Venus Williams.
Muguruza faced double-set point in the first set, trailing Williams 4-5, 15-40 when she squeeked out the hold en route to winning the last nine games of the match to win the Wimbledon title for her second major championship.
Muguruza, the 2016 French Open women’s singles champ, joins 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, her coach this week at the All England Club, as the only Spanish women to win Wimbledon.
The 37-year-old Williams, herself a five-time Wimbledon champion, but not since 2008, was looking to become the oldest winner of Wimbledon in the Open Era (since 1968). She was the oldest Wimbledon finalist since another 37-year-old, Martina Navratilova, played in the women’s singles final in 1994, where she ironically lost to Martinez.
Andrea Leand, the former U.S. Fed Cup and Olympic team member, analyzed the match and what is next for both Muguruza and Williams in her “Best of Three” podcast here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/12360039
Muguruza joked to ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi shortly after leaving Centre Court following her triumph that “Finally, a Spanish girl can play on grass,” but Muguruza is a “new mold” Spanish tennis player that is more adept at playing on fast courts. Chris Lewit, the author of the book “The Secrets of Spanish Tennis,” outlines the training programs that Spanish players now endure in his book. He outlined how Muguruza became more of a fast-court player in this article here http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/12091 two years ago when Muguruza first reached the Wimbledon final, losing to Serena Williams.