Garbine Muguruza of Spain hits a return during the women's singles 1st round match against Elise Mertens of Belgium at Australian Open tennis tournament, in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 17, 2023. (Xinhua/Guo Lei)
Former world No. 1 Garbine Muguruza confirmed she would skip the clay and grass season to spend more time with family and friends.
MADRID, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Former world No. 1 tennis player Garbine Muguruza has published a message saying she will not be returning to competition until after the clay and grass court seasons.
The 29-year-old Spanish-Venezuelan player has not played since January and has not won a match since September 2022 after an important loss of form that saw her drop out of the top 100 for the first time in 10 years.
She has now published a message on her Instagram account informing that she will not be back in the near future.
"I'm spending time with family and friends and it's been very healthy and amazing for me, so I'm going to extend this period until the summer, so I'm going to miss the clay and grass season. Thank you for all the messages of affection," she wrote, adding that she would inform when there was any further news.
Muguruza returns the ball during the quarterfinal match of WTA Qatar Open against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha, capital of Qatar, Feb. 24, 2022. (Photo by Nikku/Xinhua)
Muguruza had confirmed in February that she was taking time off and would miss the WTA 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, although she had implied she would be back for the European clay court tournaments.
The new announcement means she will not play in Roland Garros (French Open) or Wimbledon, tournaments she won in 2016 and 2017. ■
