Garbine Muguruza made history in November by becoming the first Spaniard to reach the WTA Finals since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1993, Muguruza's birth year. She then went one better than Vicario, defeating Anett Kontaveit in the WTA Finals final in Guadalajara, Mexico, to become the first ever Spanish winner.
Muguruza will be awarded by athletic powerhouse Real Madrid in celebration of her outstanding 2021 season and Finals triumph. On the 1st of December, she will perform the ceremonial kick-off at the Santiago Bernabeu in their next league encounter against Athletic Club Bilbao.
Muguruza won the WTA Finals for the 10th time on the circuit, adding to her two WTA 1000 level wins and two Slam titles. These major titles came in 2016 at Roland Garros and 2017 at Wimbledon. Muguruza won the WTA 1000 Dubai Tennis Championships in March 2021, her second championship at that level, after reaching two WTA 500 finals early in the season.
In October, she won the WTA 500 Chicago Fall Tennis Classic before completing her season by winning the WTA Finals. She finished the season with a 42-17 win-loss record and is now ranked third in the world for the first time since July 2018. Muguruza will undoubtedly be seeking to build on her successful 2021 season by continuing to climb the rankings, possibly returning to world number one, which she last earned in September 2017 during the US Open.