FORMER world number one Garbiñe Muguruza has been named Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Player of the Year.
The first female Spaniard to win Wimbledon after her own coach, Conchita Martínez, did so in the year she was born, Garbiñe, 23, also won at Cincinnati and got through to the semi-finals or the finals in five major tournaments this season – in Tokyo, Birmingham, Rome, Brisbane and Stanford.
The Wimbledon win was only the second Grand Slam title of her career after last year's French Open at Paris' Roland Garros stadium.
She is currently in Singapore, where she has started the WTA Finals with a two-set victory against Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, ending on 6-3 and 6-4.
Garbiñe, originally Venezuelan but with Spanish nationality, could end the year back in the world number one slot – being only the second female Spaniard to do so in history.
She recently lost her crown to Romania's Simona Halep, but with the latter having only been 40 points ahead of Garbiñe at the start of today's tournament, the gap could easily be closed.
