Garbiñe Muguruza

Unfortunately, a virus kept me from playing how I would have liked at the WTA Premier tournament in Beijing this week. It’s one of the top tournaments in the women’s circuit and where the most points are given out, after the four Grand Slam tournaments. I was feeling sick for several days after leaving Wuhan. I wasn’t able to practice and even though I tried, the fever kept me from playing as well as I would have liked.

I have now had three very good weeks on the tour that will finish next week at the US Open. I decided to play in Stanford despite its coming so soon after Wimbledon and I did not regret it. Things went very well and my victory in Cincinnati is the result of all the work I have done this season, which is bearing fruit.

The life of a tennis player can be quite hectic. And that’s one thing that is both good and bad about it. When you’re struggling, you know that in just one week’s time, you’ll get another chance to pick yourself up. When things are going your way, you hardly have time to stop and celebrate.  But this time, I did want to savor every moment, because otherwise, it all slips by so quickly.

I fell in love with Paris a long time ago. It was the spring of 2013 when I went to Roland Garros for the first time. Having grown up playing on clay courts in my hometown of Caracas and then later in Barcelona, this love was only natural. It’s true that I play more aggressively than a typical clay court player due to the way I’m built, but there’s no denying that clay courts make me feel at home.

We’re now back in Europe and have arrived just in time for the start of spring. One advantage of being a professional tennis player is that you spend practically the whole year in places with good weather.  It’s a real treat!

It’s hard to believe we’re already in Miami. It’s all happening too quickly… We left Indian Wells and arrived on Friday and yesterday I had my first contact with Miami’s courts.

I’m writing from Ostrava, where we’ll be playing against the Czech Republic in the first round of the Fed Cup. It is always a pleasure to get Conchita Martínez’s call and have the opportunity to represent Spain and spend a week with the team. It is quite different from the everyday grind at the circuit, the vibe is great and I really love it. We spend a lot of time together and we all feel part of something important.

A tennis player's life is strange that way. When you're in the pre-season training, stuck in the same place, you start missing the airplanes, hotels and specially the competition. I had only two weeks' vacation, when, as you know, I went to Egypt –which was something I really wanted to do and was on my "to do" list– and then I spent some time just lazing on the sofa. I made the most of those days to follow the treatment for my ankle. Everything went fine and we began training straight away.

Hi everyone. This time I’m writing from sunny California, in the U.S. This is the second year in a row that I have come here for the second part of the preseason.

So… vacation time is over and my preseason starts this very day. Gone is the 2016 season. A season that I will never forget, having won at Roland Garros and after making it for second year in a row to the WTA Finals. I’m so proud of these achievements, but they are all part of the past now, and, starting today, I’m be looking to 2017.

It's hard to believe, but it’s already been a year since the last time we were here. We arrived at Singapore yesterday, and now we’re gearing up to, hopefully, do things right in the year’s last tournament. It will be extremely hard, because only the season’s 8 best players play in the WTA Finals. As you know, Serena will not be here, but the tournament is going to be just as hard.

We’ve reached the end of the season. It has been a long and demanding summer, so it was great to get the chance to spend almost two weeks at home. First, to get some much needed rest. I had been traveling for more than two months and wanted to sleep in my bed. That’s a long time to be away, with long trips, heat and hotels.

So many things have happened that it seemed like an eternity when we got back on the road for the great summer that was approaching. Unfortunately, my health started playing dirty tricks on me again and I couldn't compete in Montreal. Actually, I was eager to play because the previous week we had trained very hard, both physically and on the court, in Los Angeles and I was ready. But I couldn't, I just couldn't.

Just a little time left before the competition starts and it feels like yesterday that we were at this small housing complex in Wimbledon, last year. We’re barely at a ten-minute walk from the training courts, and that’s just wonderful.