Less than three months before Garbine Muguruza the woman to whom she has looked up to since childhood and is now her tennis mentor was engaged in the match that would define her career, perhaps even her life.

Though she was subsequently to reach the finals of both the Australian and French Opens, Conchita Martinez was ultimately to win only one Grand Slam title, but it was the most prized of them all and her victory was achieved against one of its greatest champions. Several years had passed since nine time Wimbledon winner Martina Navratilova had claimed the last of her Grand Slam singles titles and this would be her last hurrah as the 37-year-old was beaten 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 by her Spanish opponent.

There are, then, clear parallels with what confronts Muguruza today when she takes on Venus Williams, a five time Wimbledon champion who has not won a Grand Slam title since 2008 and while the 23-year-old said there is nothing much she can usefully draw from the coincidence, other than register amusement at its scale, she readily acknowledged Williams’ achievement, saying she does not believe she will be playing at top level for as long.

“I think it’s very impressive. Not everybody can do that,” said the 23-year-old.

“It has a lot to do with the strength of your body, your style of game, but for me, it’s incredible. I don’t think I could be 37 and playing that level. She just loves to play and she enjoys going out there, that’s what it shows when she keeps playing, even though she has achieved so many things. She’s still motivated to go for more and still has the hunger, which is also very surprising.”

Martinez has stepped up to help her compatriot while regular coach Sam Sumyk takes time off tour to be with his pregnant wife and has clearly had a calming and reassuring influence since Muguruza made an emotional exit from the French Open after her title defence ended last month. However rather than reach back into the history of the game, they are clearly focusing on what can be learned from the player’s own Grand Slam final experiences, both against Williams’ sister Serena, a defeat on the Wimbledon grass two years ago and that win in Paris last year.

“That final helped me a lot to figure out a way to play better on grass, because before I was not very experienced and had not played a lot of grass court tournaments,” she said of the first of those two experiences.

“It was just a very surprising moment when you reach a final in a tournament where you thought it was going to be difficult, but right now I know how to play more on grass.”

However perhaps even more relevant is how she has developed since joining Martinez as a Spanish Grand Slam winner. It has been a difficult year since, during which she has dropped down the world rankings, but she believes she is mentally stronger as a result of all that she has been through.

“I’m different, but not very different. It’s not a long time ago,” Muguruza observed. “I think my mind is more equipped this time because the more experience you get the more you know how to deal with these situations, because they’re very special. If you have felt it before, it’s really helpful, so I just have more information about the situation.”

At the end of a strangely open women’s singles tournament class has emerged with two of the most recognisable figures in the draw coming through in spite of neither having been seeded in the top eight. Williams is the higher ranked of the two, but it is perhaps telling that whereas she has said she will seek advice from her sister on how to deal with her opponent, Muguruza is focused on her own game.

“I try not to change a lot of things because I think if I play at a good level, I will have a lot of chances to win,” she said, noting that she has also played Venus several times previously so knows what to expect.