In June, Garbiñe Muguruza looked set to rule women's tennis soon. In September, she seems lost

In June, I predicted that Garbiñe Muguruza was the real thing. Fresh off her victory over Serena Williams in the final of the French Open, the 22-year-old Spaniard seemed a legitimate challenger for the position of the next great champion in women’s tennis.

Armed with new confidence, she looked set to continue her winning ways on grass at Wimbledon and then the hard courts of America. There was no reason why this was not going to be Muguruza’s summer. Her arrival felt significant for the women’s tour which, in recent times, apart from Williams, has lacked a consistently dominant player.

What’s going wrong for Mugu?

Summer on the professional tennis tour is long. So long and packed with so many events, in fact, that by its end, the beginning feels like a lifetime ago. Watching Muguruza play – and lose – matches these days, it is hard to believe that she is the same person who held aloft the trophy at Roland Garros in early June.

Since that victory, she has played some pretty terrible tennis, particularly on the big stage. Right after Paris, Muguruza lost in the first round of a grass court tournament in Spain and in the second round of Wimbledon. This week, she went out in the second round of the US Open. And it’s not just the results but how she lost that is somewhat perplexing. It is not uncommon for players to win a major and then suffer a slump. But why has this happened to Muguruza? Here are a few possible reasons.

• The first Grand Slam title is a huge turning point in a player’s life, one that takes an emotional and physical toll. Often, there is a distinct lack of time to process the enormity of what just happened. Just a week after the French Open final, Muguruza had to rush to Majorca in Spain for an event on grass, without any time to transition from one surface to another. Two weeks later, she was at the All England Club in London.Her situation was comparable to that of Germany’s Angelique Kerber earlier this year. After winning the Australian Open, Kerber had a dismal early part of the summer, losing in the first round in Rome and Madrid as well as the next major she played, which was the French Open. The German admitted that she needed a little time off with family and friends to finally let the importance of her Australian Open success sink in. The days and weeks following a maiden Grand Slam victory can be a blur. After her Wimbledon loss, Muguruza admitted she felt “tired” and “empty”.
• “Mugu”, as she is sometimes affectionately called, has never been known for her consistency. Despite stunning Serena in the second round of the French Open back in 2014 and reaching the Wimbledon final in 2015, she had won only two Women’s Tour Association titles until this year’s French Open. Like many aggressive, strong players, Muguruza tends to be a bit erratic. She goes for big shots which can turn into winners or unforced errors.Her statistics late this summer are revealing. Against the 124th ranked Jana Cepelova, she had 22 unforced errors compared to only nine winners. In the round of 16 in Rio, where she lost to eventual gold medallist Monica Puig by a 6-1 6-1 scoreline, Muguruza committed 29 unforced errors to only 15 winners. And in New York, where she bowed out in straight sets to Latvian Anastasija Sevastova – who returned to tennis last season after an almost two-year retirement – Muguruza hit 38 unforced errors. 

Hangover cures anyone?

Just before her US Open loss, her coach Sam Sumyk said, “It doesn’t matter about the consistency…What matters is that her game evolves and her pace is her pace. I know that people want every week for her to be in the quarter-final, semi-final, final and bring home the trophy. It’s not freaking possible. We’re not here to please other people.” If this attitude from the coach sounds like he is in a bit of denial, then what about what Muguruza herself has been saying about her poor results?

• At Wimbledon, ESPN commentator and former player Chris Evert expressed disappointment at Muguruza’s apparent nonchalance at losing the way she did. Is she trying hard enough? Does she lack a bit of motivation after the French Open? Or has she become a little complacent? No one but Muguruza knows the answers. But what is obvious is that on court these days she looks listless and even apathetic. Afterwards, she shrugs off her defeats with what seems like too much ease. She just does not seem to care enough. Despite Muguruza’s protests to the contrary, there are clear signs of a first Slam hangover. 
• It was Evert herself who had predicted just after the French Open that it would be very difficult for Muguruza to carry the momentum on to Wimbledon this year. So often we have seen players cause a huge upset in one round of a big event before falling easily in the next round. After winning a Grand Slam for the first time, many players feel the weight of expectations. Suddenly, the whole world expects, even demands, victory.

Muguruza has repeatedly dismissed any questions about feeling pressure after her glorious win at Roland Garros. At a news conference during the US Open, she said: ''I don't think about the French Open any second. It's past”. And earlier, at Wimbledon, she said that even though the French Open win gave her a lot of confidence, “nothing is really different.”

But that is highly unlikely. A Grand Slam win comes with a package: increased expectations, surge in endorsements, additional public relation demands and requirements, and the accompanying media whirl – which, in Muguruza’s case, has been especially intense in Spain. These offer numerous distractions to a young professional athlete, and many have found it hard to cope with this kind of success.

Women’s tennis has been seeking its next great champion after Serena Williams. In the last few years, Marion Bartoli of France and Flavia Pennetta of Italy both retired right after winning their first Grand Slam. Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka announced that she was pregnant this summer and is currently absent from the game. Multiple major winner Maria Sharapova is serving a drug-related suspension. Other players who have won a lone slam, like Sam Stosur and Ana Ivanovic, have struggled with form since.

Two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova has been extremely inconsistent, especially on surfaces other than grass. Muguruza and Kerber had looked like legitimate hopes to take over the mantle from Williams. Right now, it is Kerber, who has found her way back on the hard courts and who is now challenging Williams for the top spot. Meanwhile, Muguruza is left wondering what has happened to her. She has promised to keep playing (without much rest) and to keep trying. We can only hope that in a few months, when the new season begins, she will have found a cure for the hangover.