WTA/ATP: Muguruza and Nadal clear away

High distinction for Garbine Muguruza and Rafael Nadal: The two top players were voted Spain’s athletes of the year.

The Spaniards have no shortage of top international sports talent: all the more remarkable is the fact that in 2017, both for the women and men, the winners of the prizes for the best athlete and the best athletes in the country were awarded to tennis: Rafael Nadal’s election, who last year won the two Grand Slam tournaments in Paris and New York City, among other things, and so on the side of it again.

And the female winner, Garbine Muguruza, also deserved her award: on the one hand with her success in Wimbledon, where she hadn’t missed a chance in the final of Venus Williams. And of course, with the climb to the top of the WTA charts, another milestone in the career of Venezuelan-born Muguruza.

“I am so happy to be here for the first time and to get such a nice confirmation for such a great year makes me very emotional,”said Muguruza on Monday evening at the award ceremony in Barcelona,”I am very proud to have been nominated for this award. It’s a reward for a lot of hard work.”

Garbine Muguruza had also worked hard in California during the preparations for the season – but not with the desired success so far. In Brisbane, the current number four in the world had to give up on Aleksandra Krunic in the third set due to cramps, while Muguruza was unable to play Daria Gavrilova in Sydney for the quarter-finals. In Melbourne, Su-Wei Hsieh’s defeat came in round two.

The Spaniard doesn’t want to know about these problems anymore.”I feel much better. I had a few frightening moments in Australia, which is part of our job. But the truth is, I feel much better now.”