Conchita Martinez tests positive for coronavirus

Conchita Martinez (Robbie Mendelson, Wikimedia Commons)

According to the Associated Press on Saturday, Conchita Martinez has tested positive for coronavirus. The 48-year-old coach from Monzon, Spain, who won the 1994 Wimbledon Final in women’s singles, was set to coach Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the Qatar Open which started on Monday. However, Martinez tested positive on her arrival to Qatar, and is now quarantining at a Doha hospital with mild symptoms.

Martinez has been coaching Muguruza full-time since 2020. She originally coached Muguruza part-time in 2017, and was part of Muguruza’s team when Muguruza won Wimbledon four years ago. In the 2017 Wimbledon Final, Muguruza beat Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0. Then in 2018 and 2019, Martinez was coaching Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic for two years, before re-joining Muguruza last year.

Despite not having Martinez at her side on Monday, Muguruza was still able to come through with a first-round win in Qatar. She defeated Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 6-2, 7-6, and will next face the Qatar Open’s third seed, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, in the second round.

The Qatar Total Open is the second straight WTA 500 event on the schedule. On Saturday, reigning French Open champion Iga Swiatek of Poland defeated Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in the final of the Adelaide International.

As a player, Martinez was ranked as high as number two in the world. She won 33 WTA events from 1988 to 2005. Martinez’s grand slam tournament win at Wimbledon came over the great Martina Navratilova. Martinez won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

There have been 164,137 cases of coronavirus in Qatar, and 259 deaths. It is interesting that Martinez is isolating in a Doha hospital rather than a hotel.

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