“Quickly Adapt to the Little Things”: Garbine Muguruza Mindful of Tricky Conditions at Indian Wells 2021

Yesterday, the two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza won the inaugural edition of the Chicago Fall Classic. Muguruza defeated Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the final to clinch her second title of the season.

Despite losing the opening set, the Spaniard fought her way back in a grueling second set and then bagel’d her opponent in the decider to claim victory. Muguruza won 66 percent of the points off her first serve and converted six out of the eight break point opportunities during the final.

Garbine Muguruza heads to Indian Wells

During an interview with WTA Insider after grabbing the trophy in Chicago, the host asked Muguruza about how she plans to deal with the conditions at the upcoming 2021 Indian Wells, California.

Garbine acknowledged the tricky conditions. The former World No.1 added that adapting quickly to the high temperature and a higher ball bounce would be key.

“Adaptation. It’s a little different. I feel like I’m coming with good matches. I think the competition is there. I’m just going to have to quickly adapt to the little things. The ball flies, the temperature should be warmer there,” said Muguruza.

However, the 27-year-old sounded confident heading to WTA 1000 event and talked about having reached the quarterfinal stages at Indian Wells a few times. Muguruza’s best performance at Indian Wells remains finishing as a quarterfinalist in 2017 and in 2019.

“I felt good there, I’ve made a couple of quarterfinals. All these big tournaments it’s just starting slowly and going through the first rounds is always difficult and getting into the deepest rounds is always the challenge when the tournament is long and the draw is big,” added Muguruza.

Muguruza last won a WTA 1000 title at the Dubai Tennis Championships early this year. If she emerges victorious at Indian Wells, it would be the 4th WTA 1000 title of her career.

After her success at Chicago Fall Classic, Muguruza has jumped three spots in the rankings to World No.6 and has a strong chance of securing a place in the year-end WTA Finals.

Read More: Emma Raducanu’s US Open 2021 Success Inspires UK Government to Invest £22M in Tennis