MELBOURNE — Garbine Muguruza is doing her best to stay grounded ahead of the Australian Open after a breakout 2015 season brought a wave of attention and suggestions that she was a grand slam champion in waiting.
The 22-year-old Spaniard won her second career title last year, advanced to her first grand slam final at Wimbledon and moved up the rankings to a career-best third in the world.
She also made the semi-finals of the season-ending WTA Championships in Singapore, where she acknowledged that other players of her generation had been touted as 'the next big thing' only to have a poor follow-up season to a breakout year.