Garbine Muguruza blames virus outbreak for poor campaign in Australia

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World No. 3 Garbine Muguruza said a COVID-19 outbreak within her team affected her preparation for the 2022 season. On Thursday, former world No. 1 Muguruza suffered a shock loss at the Australian Open. Alize Cornet, ranked at No.

61 in the world, saw off Muguruza 6-3 6-3 to reach the third round at Melbourne Park. Muguruza played in Sydney last week and also didn't impress. Muguruza won her Sydney opener before losing to Daria Kasatkina in the quarterfinal.

"It's been a pretty stressful start of the year also with my team. They all got COVID before coming here. We were for 15 days apart. It was hard for me for the preparation to come to the Aussie, swing and play and perform well.

That was tricky a little bit," Muguruza said after the loss, per Tennis Up To Date.

A difficult and stressful start to 2022 for Muguruza

"Physically here I wasn't also feeling my best. It was a kind of the stressful start to the year.

I'm okay always to train by myself and I like it. But it's a tricky part of the year also. The pre-season, the start of the season, you are doing the last touches. You kind of want to continue working. That threw me a little bit off," Muguruza added.

While in Melbourne, Muguruza was asked about the Novak Djokovic visa debacle. Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion, didn't sound too happy when asked about the Djokovic drama last time. "Yeah, I feel like, every time I'm in the press conference this question gets asked.

I answered in Sydney," Muguruza said. "I think it's taking long, I think we all want to move on and forget whatever it is, just move on and focus on the cool aspects of starting a Slam." Muguruza will now take some time to regroup and try to bounce back in her next tournaments.