Muguruza made history at Roland Garros, claiming her first grand slam crown thanks to a 7-5 6-4 win over the world number one and defending champion in Paris.
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The 22-year-old’s win over Williams also sees her become Spain’s first female champion at Roland Garros since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario won the tournament in 1998.
Williams was the big favourite again but rumours of an adductor strain and the fact that she was playing for the fourth day in a row gave Muguruza added belief and the Spaniard played the match of her young career to win the title.
The last time Williams lost at three major tournaments in a row was in 2014, when the losing streak led to a rededication to her craft, with the biggest change of which was to start working with her current coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.
Muguruza reached her first grand slam final at Wimbledon previous year and Sumyk, who coached Victoria Azarenka to two slam titles, is confident his new charge can also be a multiple champion.
Said Williams: “The only thing I can do is just keep trying”.
Garbine Muguruza said that fixing her mindset and getting rid of all the unnecessary emotions were key to her winning her first Grand Slam title at the French Open.
I can’t explain with words what this day means to me. I was tall, I had a powerful game, my arms were long, so I’m like “no you can’t play like Spanish players”, you’ve got to go for it, hit hard.
Having saved four match points, Williams thought she was going to save a fifth only for Muguruza’s lob to land perfectly on the baseline.
Williams though was struggling and this time it was the quality of her opponent’s play rather than her own misgivings that were the main cause for her struggles.
“Match point was really weird”, said Muguruza post-match. It doesn’t make her play bad but maybe not aggressive enough to win it.
Muguruza said: “I’ve already put behind me this story about the expectations”.
But she had one of the lowest first serve percentage rates at 60% and managed to convert only 30 of 73 break points over the two weeks. On one early point, Muguruza whiffed completely on an attempted backhand return of an 89 miles per hour (143 kph) high-kicking second serve. Serving for the set, she showed early nerves in the 12th game before converting her third opportunity with a sizzling backhand victor. Muguruza is by far the youngest current Grand Slam victor, with Petra Kvitova (at 26) being the second youngest. When you’re a kid and you practise on clay, you’re always, “Oh, I wish I could win Roland Garros”.
Garbine Muguruza basking in the glory of the moment [Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images] Muguruza turns with a blank expression to her coach and other supporters in the bleachers while Williams applauds.
Muguruza matched Williams power-for-power, stroke-for-stroke throughout the match. Muguruza shares her thoughts. “I won”. It was fantastic”.
He continued: “If she did this easily, she wouldn’t be human”.
However the Spaniard soon has three more opportunities to end it when she builds a 40-0 lead.
But, revealing a fragility few had anticipated, she fell short there and did so again in the finals of the two subsequent majors, most recently against Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in Paris on Saturday.
“I think he’s one of the most dedicated tennis players on the tour”, said Djokovic.
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On the other hand, Serena Williams’ grand slam tally will remain stalled on 21 for at least another month, but with Wimbledon just around the corner, she will fancy her chances of equalling Steffi Graf’s record of 22 major titles there.
