Garbine Muguruza is the top seed in this week's WTA Stanford draw (2017 Bank of the West Classic). As such she, along with the other top-four seeds, will enjoy a bye through the first round of play. Afterward, the Spaniard will have to regain her focus as she will look to negotiate her way through four rounds of competition in California. As she resumes play after winning Wimbledon earlier in July, perhaps it's a good time to look back at the aftermath of her title win at the 2016 French Open. After all, she is at a similar point in her career right now following her recent title from the All England Club.

Muguruza slumps after winning the French

Muguruza only won one title in 2016, but it was a big one. She defeated Serena Williams in the final at Roland Garros to claim what was the first Grand Slam of the Spaniard's career. Following the victory, Muguruza began a noticeable slump that started in her home country of Spain. Just days after becoming the World No. 2 in 2016, Muguruza lost to Kirsten Flipkens in Mallorca. It would be the first tournament of many where the Spaniard would turn in a weak result. She lost at Wimbledon 2016 in the 2nd round to a player outside of the top 100. At the Olympics, Muguruza fell in the third round. Between that point and the end of the 2016 season, Muguruza would not see a final on tour.

She would fall early at the US Open and she lost in the round-robin stages of the tour finals.

No titles in 2017 - except for Wimbledon

The start of the 2017 season brought no changes. Before winning Wimbledon, Muguruza saw no finals on tour. That was a big reason why she entered Wimbledon 2017 as the 14th-seeded player. She then erased a lot of the memories of her poor form by rattling off seven straight victories while only dropping one set.

It resulted in her catapulting in the rankings up to the World No. 4 position, where she is right now.

But between the Grand Slam title runs Muguruza saw no final, even in the small events. WTA Stanford certainly qualifies as a small event, although this season's draw features Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, and Madison Keys.

If Muguruza is motivated and playing an approximation of her best tennis, then it will likely take one of those three players to take her out. However, if we see the player that lost all motivation after winning the 2016 French Open, then Muguruza might have a hard time making the semifinals. She shares a path to that round with Ana Konjuh, a Croatian player. Konjuh is still unproven on tour, but perhaps that will fill her with more desire in the Stanford draw.

Muguruza rarely wins tournaments

It may sound funny, given what happened at Wimbledon, but Muguruza is certainly not the best player when it comes to closing out tournaments. To date, she has just four career titles at the tour level. Two of those might be Grand Slam titles, but all that suggests is that she saves up her energy for the majors.

In the small events like Stanford, history shows that it doesn't take a distinguished player to knock Muguruza out. She has six losses this season, whether via retirement or via losing match point, to players ranked outside of the top 30 at match time.

Konjuh enters the tournament ranked 21st and may provide the Spaniard with a major test should they face one another. In short, Stanford is a great tournament to see where Muguruza is at in terms of hunger. If she makes the deep rounds and contests the late matches vigorously then that will be true to her form from Wimbledon. However, if she gets blown over in the early rounds or has nothing against a top player, then it will be true to her form from the last time she won a Grand Slam title.
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