Spain declares one-off public holiday in honour of Garbine Muguruza's historic Wimbledon win

King Felipe VI of Spain has declared Monday 16th July a one-off public holiday in honour of Garbine Magaruza's historic Wimbledon win over Venus Williams. The 23-year-old Venezuelan-born Magaruza, who lost to Venus' younger sister Serena in straight sets in the 2015 final, became only the second Spanish woman to capture the most coveted prize in tennis, 23 years after Conchita Martinez stunned Martina Navratilova in three sets to capture the title.

In a nationally televised address the Monarch had this to say:

"Good evening my dear subjects of this great nation. I, as your King am quite elated to be speaking to you at this joyous time. As you know the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles final was played earlier today in which our very own Garbine Magaruza was a finalist. She came up against a very formidable opponent in the American Venus Williams."

The King went on:

"Venus, along with her younger sister Serena, are considered the best tennis players of this generation and they are very difficult to beat. In fact Venus had never lost to any other player in a Wimbledon final apart from her sister Serena. That's how good she is and that was the arduous task which Garbine faced earlier this morning in England."

He continued:

"In addition to which, history was not on Garbine's side because Venus, apart from her 1997 loss in the U.S. Open final to Martina Hingis, has a very impressive record against Caucasian opponents in Grand Slam finals. So we all knew the odds that were stacked against her. Yet, in spite of all this, Garbine was able to overcome such stern adversity to triumph at Wimbledon today in straight sets 7-5 6-0 to become only the second Spanish woman to win the most prestigious Grand Slam title and the first woman to beat both Williams sisters in Grand Slam Singles finals and in the process bring joy to our country in the sporting arena once again following Rafael Nadal's Round of 16 debacle on Monday and our National Under-21 team's narrow loss to the Germans in final of the Euro Championships two weeks ago."

He concluded:

"I am so elated that she chose to represent Spain in tennis instead of Venezuela despite having dual Spanish-Venezuelan nationality. Had she chosen to represent Venezuela instead of Spain, I don't think that she would have had the type of success that she seems to be having of late. So it is with great pleasure that I declare Monday 16th July 2017 a one-off public holiday in honor of Garbine's historic achievement. Thank you my dear subjects and good night."