Farewell, Champions

Two career-high Ozeki (=Champion) have announced their retirement from the sport: Garbine Muguruza, the 38th female Ozeki of the open era, and Dominic Thiem, the 32nd male Ozeki of the open era. 

Garbine Murguruza

Muguruza was born in 1993 in Venezuela to a Venezuelan mother and a Spanish-Basque father. When she was six, the family moved to Spain, to improve her and her brothers' training opportunities. This paid off handsomely when Muguruza broke into the world tennis elite in 2014/15. In 2016 she won her first grand slam title - beating Serena Williams in the French open final  - and earned a promotion to Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). In 2016 she also won Wimbledon, this time prevailing over Serena's sister Venus Williams, and crossed the "great hurdle" - this is what 'Ozeki' means literally in Japanese.

A lanky, elegant and powerful player, Muguruza could excel on all surfaces. At the same time, her career was a bit rollercoaster style: brilliant at one tournament, disappointing at the next, then - when many observers had written her off - coming back with a vengeance. In recent years, she was increasingly plagued by injuries, making a return to her former strength difficult. Having nothing left to prove as a tennis player, Muguruza put aside her racket up at the age of only 30. 

Dominic Thiem

Thiem also retires at age 30: he is one month older than Muguruza. Thiem caught the wider public's eye in 2016, when he reached the semifinal at the French Open - losing to Novak Djokovic but earning a first-time promotion into the sanyaku ranks as Komusubi (=Junior Champion II). He repeated the feat in 2017, then went one step further in 2018 and 2019, when he made it to the Roland Garros final - beaten both times by Rafael Nadal. 

Thiem's career peaked in 2020. First he lost an intensely fought, five-set Australian Open final to Djokovic. Then he won the US Open against Alexander Zverev, turning the match around after losing the first two sets and being two points from defeat. The victory made Thiem only the second Austrian grand slam winner of the open era - the first had been Thomas Muster in 1995 - and the first Austrian Ozeki.

Unfortunately, in 2021 Thiem injured his wrist - particularly detrimental for a player who relied not only on a grinding high-intensity game, but also on a flashy but technically demanding single-handed backhand. When it became clear that success was unlikely to return, Thiem retired from the tour.    

 

Fare well, champions. You will be missed.