Muguruza Retires from Tennis with €25 Million in Prize Money

Muguruza Retires: Two Grand Slams and €25 Million in Prizes

She retires with two Grand Slam titles, a WTA Finals victory, and having held the world number one ranking. And with approximately €25 million gross in prize money, the figure cited for her career. With such achievements, Garbiñe Muguruza's farewell should have been met with applause and a proper send-off. Instead, the announcement sparked a debate where tennis matters less than shirt size.

Muguruza confirmed her retirement with a phrase that sums up her decision: "I want to reclaim that lost time." Three lines and a figure behind them — the €25 million — which should settle any doubt about whether the career was worth it. Off the court, another conversation began.

How Much Money Has Garbiñe Muguruza Earned?

The circulating gross figure is €25 million in sports prizes. Based on this, the most generous scenario adds sponsorships to approach €35 million in revenue between tournaments and advertising deals. Applying a conservative scenario — a 20% retention rate — leaves around €7 million net. These are estimates, not audited accounts, and should be read as such.

What the case does highlight is that her tax residence works in her favor. In Switzerland, where she reportedly resides, the tax treatment of this type of income is more favorable than in Spain. The economic question is reasonable: how much of that wealth lands in the Spanish Treasury and how much has benefited from different taxation? No one specifies, and the margin of error is wide.

With the money comes the other metric: two Grand Slams and a WTA Finals are within reach of almost no one. Her trajectory ended early — that is the real disappointment, not performance — but the record of a former world number one is a fact, not an opinion.

What Did Muguruza Say About Criticism of Her Body?

Her response was brief and direct: "Well, if I'm not training anymore, what am I going to do? I want to live life, I want to enjoy it." The quote, reported by Europa Press, settles a controversy she didn't ask for through humor. It leaves the issue where it stood: in the gap between the body of an elite athlete and that of a woman who stops competing.

Muguruza was 30 years old when she hung up her racket. That the end of high-performance training shows on the scale is not a biological anomaly: it happens to anyone who stops moving six hours a day. Aesthetic demands are not applied equally to a retired footballer.

Fatphobia and Sens: The Political Reaction

The public response was swift. Secretary of State for Equality Ángela Rodríguez Pam published a message on social media summarizing the core of the criticism: that a highly successful athlete has to answer for her appearance demonstrates how normalized suspicion is toward non-thin bodies. She described it as fatphobia and sens, reminding everyone that this same body won prizes.

This is the point where the matter ceases to be sporting. The demand falls asymmetrically and does not depend on results: here, suspicion is directed at someone who already proved on the court what they had to prove.

Why Some Claim Women's Tennis Lost Appeal

The case serves some to push their thesis about the circuit. It is argued that women's tennis reached its popularity peak when it combined quality with an aesthetic profile associated with certain media figures, and that the rise of players with more powerful games and physical presence displaced that appeal.

The argument mixes two things that don't necessarily go together. One is a public preference, debatable and dated. The other is a judgment on sporting level that the record itself refutes. Attributing declining audiences to players' appearances says more about those making the claim than about the circuit.

What Remains Unresolved

Chance played its part: many entered the topic thinking they were talking about another Muguruza, the musician, and left the error with a grimace. This detail summarizes the tone. The retirement, the wealth, and the freedom to manage it have been sidelined by a conversation about kilos.

A prediction remains with reservations: if the pattern repeats, in a few years there will be less talk of the two Grand Slams and more about aging. The only way to change this is the one she has already chosen: not responding to what has no answer.