Garbine Muguruza will begin the preparations for her Wimbledon title defence in Birmingham this week, in the belief that she can repeat last year’s triumph at the All England Club.
The Spaniard, ranked No.3 in the world, beat Venus Williams to win her second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 2017.
And despite struggling in the early days on grass, Muguruza now has the confidence of two finals and one victory at the oldest of the major tournaments.
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“I believe I can win the trophy again,” said the 24-year-old, runner-up to Serena Williams in 2015.
“The tricky part is adapting the body and movement. Other surfaces are more comfortable for the body. You have to run in a certain way. The ball bounces less, the balls are heavier, the court is faster.
There's no place like a grass court ?????? #naturevalleyclassic pic.twitter.com/4JbbgRc2I9
— Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) June 16, 2018
“But I think my movement and physical capacity and strength, all have improved a lot.”
Muguruza will face Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round of the Birmingham Classic, where she hopes to improve on last year’s run to the semifinals, which ended with defeat by Ash Barty.
The Spaniard then lost 6-1 6-0 to Barbora Strycova at Eastbourne, before rediscovering her form spectacularly to power through the Wimbledon draw.
She will face tough competition as the top seed in Birmingham, with Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova completing the top four in a high-quality field.
Ukraine’s Svitolina faces a testing opener in her first match since a shock third-round loss at the French Open – she takes on the in-form Donna Vekic – while two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova is up against British No.1 Johanna Konta.
Pliskova begins her campaign against last year’s Wimbledon semifinalist, Magdalena Rybarikova.
In Spain, Caroline Garcia and Angelique Kerber are the top seeds for the grass-court Mallorca Open.
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