After a tough few years on tour and some awful luck on her side, is this Eugenie Bouchard’s best chance of making the second week of a slam since the US Open in 2015? Since the horrific incident that ended the Canadian’s 2015 campaign at Flushing Meadows, form has been very patchy and hard to come by. There have been signs since the grass season this year however, that things may well be changing.
In the first half of this season, Bouchard’s only meaningful showing was a quarterfinal in Taipei City, with a R2 loss to Simona Halep in Melbourne (understandable). Away from this, success was non-existent. Dying for something to change, she turned to coaching veteran Robert Lansdorp for some much-needed wisdom.
A Few Steps Forward
The grass season was Bouchard’s first chance to really show how Lansdorp has helped her move forward with her tennis, and the signs were positive. After losing a close match to Jennifer Brady in the final round of Birmingham qualifying, Bouchard reached round two of Wimbledon from qualifying, losing to the in-form Ashleigh Barty of Australia. Then came Gstaad in the Swiss Alps (one of a few clay tournaments held after Wimbledon), where the Canadian defeated Timea Bacsinszky on her way to the semis before retiring due to a groin strain. It may not seem like much, but small victories with some consistency is what Bouchard needed and she delivered. After all, she was ranked outside the top 180 going into the second half of this season.
Bouchard has also been one to struggle mentally on court and really struggle when she finds herself losing a few matches in a row, and begin to lose confidence quickly in a gamestyle that really depends on it. Somehow, Lansdorp has turned that around pretty quickly and brought back the trust in herself that propelled her to the top five four years ago.
Arriving in New York as the 16th seed in qualifying, Bouchard showcased some great tennis posting three very solid wins in which she lost just seven games in total. She then took on French wildcard Harmony Tan in round 1, who proved a little trickier but nothing that couldn’t be dealt with–6-3 6-1 Bouchard in just over an hour. Next up, if seedings went as planned, would have been Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu, who subsequently withdrew due to injury; therefore Marketa Vondrousova awaits in Round 2 (who dispatched lucky loser Mona Barthel in Round 1) for Bouchard.
An easier draw is perhaps in front of the Canadian, and a good chance of gaining some good momentum by making a bid for the second week of a Slam for the first time in a while. Kiki Bertens is Bouchard’s projected round three opponent, which would be the opposite of an easy match. With more confidence and grit between her teeth, Bouchard is more primed to take on the task of an upset and launching herself back onto the big stage where she desires to be again.
Bouchard’s match against Vondrousova is third on Court 17 on Thursday.
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