GENEVA, Switzerland - In her house on the banks of Lake Geneva, next door to a farm with sheep and cows, Garbiñe Muguruza found calm in a world without tennis. Now comes the hard part: figuring out her next move.
Muguruza has opened up in the pages of the June 2020 issue of Vogue Spain, penning a personal and introspective article sharing her experience in quarantine - as well as her new perspective, off-court goals and dreams for the future.
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“I’ve always enjoyed writing and sharing my thoughts, and this quarantine has given me the last push that I needed,” Muguruza told Vogue.
In her first article, the Spaniard recalled the days of confusion in Indian Wells, awaiting news after learning that the BNP Paribas Open had been cancelled, as well as the scramble afterward to return home when flights between the United States and Europe were suspended amid the growing COVID-19 pandemic.
Gracias @VogueSpain por darme la oportunidad de escribir mi primer artículo.📝😍
— Garbiñe Muguruza (@GarbiMuguruza) May 26, 2020
Thanks @VogueSpain for giving me the opportunity to write my first article. 📝😍https://t.co/9xMcbaD1gy
But after the dust settled, Muguruza got pensive. As a tennis player with no tennis to play, Muguruza wrote about taking the experience as a wakeup call in this candid excerpt:
“Since I was three years old, I’ve lived with a racquet in my hand and for one objective. When all of that is suddenly gone due to a greater force, it’s life elbowing you and saying, ‘Hey, there is more to life than tennis, maybe this is a good moment to get ready for when that day comes. When you have to hang up the racquet.’
“From every bad situation you can always find a message, and today, mine is to lift my gaze up and look beyond what I know and explore the things that are inside of me.”
¡@GarbiMuguruza compartió sus experiencias con 11 jugadoras júniors de habla hispana en una videocharla organizada por la @ITF_Tennis!👌😍pic.twitter.com/AHTMrof6cy
— WTA Español (@WTA_Espanol) May 16, 2020
Not one to stay still, even in a lockdown, Muguruza revealed that she's already taken steps toward achieving that 'message': she’s been taking a psychology course from Johns Hopkins University, two courses on nutrition and health from Stanford University, and an exercise science course from the University of Colorado.
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She’s also kept busy by giving back to her community, and she imparted her tennis knowledge to a group of young Spanish-speaking ITF juniors in a recent video chat (see above).
Being born in Venezuela, raised in Spain and now stuck at home in Switzerland also had Muguruza pondering her own identity, and she dedicated a part of her essay to exploring the topic:
“For all the times that people have asked me, ‘Garbiñe, do you feel more Spanish or Venezuelan?’ I don’t even have the answer. I’m a citizen of the world, and I love my Spanish and Basque blood, and my Latin and Venezualan blood. And I’m very proud to represent Spain every week that I compete around the world.
“I represent a mix of cultures wherever I go, from the stubbornness of the Basque people on my father’s side, to the Caribbean rhythms in my hips from my mother’s side. I only need to hear the first bars of a salsa song and my feet move on their own.”
Muguruza’s first published article can be found in in full in the June 2020 issue of Vogue Spain, along with a photoshoot shot by Noémi Ottilia Szabo and styled by Arianna Pianca.
(All excerpts by Garbiñe Muguruza for Vogue Spain)
