Speaker

Garbine Muguruza

Former World No. 1 and 2-time Grand Slam Champion

Born in Caracas on October 8th, 1993 Garbiñe spent her first years of her life in the city of Guatire (Miranda state), 50 km east of Caracas.

Her father José Antonio Muguruza was born in Azkoitia and raised in Eibar, two small towns in the Basque Country, in northern of Spain. In 1978 he migrated to Venezuela in search of new opportunities.

In 1999 when Garbiñe was six she moved to Barcelona with her mother and two older brothers. Asier and Igor had played tennis in Venezuela and wanted to become professional tennis players, so they enrolled in the Bruguera Tennis Academy Top Team. Eventually they decided to pursue their studies instead, and it was Garbiñe who turned out to be the one with the real talent to become professional. The family settled in a house next to the academy in Santa Coloma de Cervelló, 10 km from Barcelona.

In December 2009 Garbiñe won her first ITF title in Vinaroz (Spain). Before that, in May she had reached the final in Antalya (Turkey). In 2010, the good results kept coming. In February in Mallorca she reached another ITF tournament and the following week she added her second title. She ended the year as 432 in the world, and she kept on improving to break into the Top 100 in 2012.

Garbiñe started 2013 with great results and wins over three top 10s. In Miami she made the news reaching the quarterfinals after defeating Wozniacki. In a routine study in February at the tournament of Florianopolis she was diagnosed with osteochondritis dissecans of the talus. On July 3rd she went through surgery to prevent future complications.

After six months away from competition, Garbiñe returned to the WTA Tour in December 2013 in Auckland. She was back in great shape, pain-free and eager to compete. She won the tournament in Hobart, her first WTA Tour title, a week before the Australian Open, where she reached the fourth round. In March that year, she played the final in Florianopolis but lost in the first round at Indian Wells and Miami. Roland Garros was a new turning point. She defeated Serena Williams in the first round and advanced to the quarterfinals where she was beaten by Maria Sharapova in a tight match.

From that point her career took off. Garbiñe's most outstanding achievements are two Grand Slam championships (Roland Garros 2016 and Wimbledon 2017), two runners-up (Wimbledon 2015 and Australian Open 2020), and winning the WTA Finals in 2021. She has also won ten other WTA tournaments. In 2017, her best year to date and in which she reached world number one, she was named "Player of the Year" at the WTA and ITF Awards, and nominated for "Sportswoman of the Year" at the Laureus Awards.

She loves music and dancing, traveling to Africa and cooking when she finally makes it home. She is an ambassador of Room to Read that helps young girls to have an education. In 2022 she became an investor in Casa del Sol, a tequila company from Mexico cofounded by actress Eva Logoria.