Australian Open 2022: Garbine Muguruza blames shock exit on coaching team's Covid in build-up

Melbourne: World number three Garbine Muguruza blamed Covid-19 for her early exit from the Australian Open Thursday, revealing her entire team had been struck down in the lead-up to the tournament, hampering her preparations.

The 2020 runner-up at Melbourne Park was widely seen as a serious contender for the first Grand Slam of the year after a stellar season where she won in Chicago and Dubai before clinching the WTA finals.

But, after a comfortable first-round win, she was stunned 6-3, 6-3 by French veteran Alize Cornet at the second hurdle.

Spain's Muguruza, who won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon a year later before a form slump, said her preparations had been hit hard by coronavirus.

"It's been a pretty stressful start of the year also with my team. They all got Covid before coming here. We were, like, for 15 days apart," she said.

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"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. Physically here I wasn't also feeling my best."

Muguruza said with her team isolating she had to train by herself for a fortnight and while that normally doesn't bother her, it was not ideal in the pre-season.

"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," she said.

"Although I had time here to prepare and everything, yeah, I think the combination of everything I think didn't help me."

Muguruza struggled with her serve against Cornet and hit 33 unforced errors, a performance that surprised her.

"It's a tough day. My serve wasn't there, I think my shots weren't there also. Tactically I think I wasn't doing the right decisions either," she said.

"On top of that she played very well, very solid game."

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