Garbine Muguruza: A junior man would beat me even if I was ranked #1

Garbine Muguruza believes there is “a huge difference” between male and female players, claiming she would have lost to a junior male player even if she had played that match when she was the WTA world number 1.

Muguruza, who turned professional in 2012 and retired from professional tennis last year, became Grand Slam champion at the 2016 French Open before winning her second Major at Wimbledon the following year. The Spanish tennis legend also reached the world No. 1 ranking in September 2017, spending a total of weeks as the top-ranked player in the game.

In 15 days’ time, current WTA world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka will face Nick Kyrgios in Dubai. The Belarusian four-time Grand Slam champion has shrugged off criticism surrounding their match by confidently stating several times that she has what it takes to challenge the 2022 Wimbledon finalist.

Muguruza: I think a junior would beat me even if I were number 1 in the world

“I think a junior would beat me even if I was ranked No. 1. I’ve had a lot of sparring partners and every time I had to play a practice set I would get angry. ‘How can I not win a set against him?’ And he wasn’t even a professional. It’s a huge difference. It’s not just strength… Physical, the muscles, the endurance that a man has… It’s many things. I have two brothers and I can’t beat them. Yes, they were professionals, but they weren’t in the top 100 or anything,” the former world number 1 said.

Muguruza also opined that the match between Sabalenka and Kyrgios could not be compared to the original Battle of the Sexes played between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

“This is more like, let’s do this for fun. She seems very motivated, so I’m curious to see what will happen,” Muguruza added.