How Eugenie Bouchard Is Getting Back on the Path to Grand Slam Contention
Eugenie Bouchard is finally clawing her way out of the abyss.
Tired of being labeled a one-hit wonder, she's taken the rights steps lately to put an end to her woes and reestablish her relevance.
Those flashes of superstar potential she once dazzled us? There's now more than a sliver of hope that the 22-year-old can actually fulfill that promise and become a legitimate contender again.
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Her journey toward this potential redemption followed a long, winding road of peaks and valleys.
Named the WTA Newcomer of the Year three years ago, Bouchard elevated her game to another level the following season. Like a debutante at a ball, she stole the show throughout the first half of 2014.
In just her fourth main-draw appearance at a Grand Slam, Bouchard punched her way to the Australian Open semifinals, losing to eventual champion Li Na. Despite the defeat, she became a new household name. And the hype around the Canadian kept growing from there.
She replicated that result with a semifinal run at the French Open. Though Bouchard dropped a tight battle with Maria Sharapova, she inched closer to the precipice of winning a major.
At Wimbledon, she took it a step further by making her first Grand Slam final. Dominant wins over Top 10 opponents Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep further punctuated her rapid ascent. But the clock struck midnight when Petra Kvitova demolished her for the title.
It's been mostly downhill from there.
A slump for the ages tested her physically and psychologically in 2015. With a target on her back so large you could see it with Google Earth, Bouchard struggled with the burden of expectation and how to balance it with her new-found celebrity.
Following a rout at the hands of Sharapova in the Australian Open quarterfinals, she'd win only eight more matches the entire season. The 12-18 record she compiled looks bad enough on its own, but mixed in there were 10 opening round losses at tournaments, including the French Open and Wimbledon. Talk about a disaster.
Spoiler: Her ranking tumbled because of those failures. Once as high as No. 5 in the world, she dropped out of the Top 20 after Wimbledon. The immensely confident player Bouchard propped herself up as faced suddenly reached a crossroads in her young career.
Her progress floundering, Bouchard lacked momentum entering the U.S. Open. So when she advanced to the fourth round there (and earned her first win streak longer than two matches in eight months), a light at the end of the tunnel appeared.
Sadly, a freak locker room accident sent a concussed Bouchard home early, robbing her of a big opportunity. She wouldn't complete a single match the rest of the season.
Eager to bury everything that transpired during a frustrating season, Bouchard set out on a new path to rekindle her flickering potential.
The first few months of 2016 represent a step in the right direction. Baby steps. Finishing runner-up in Hobart and Malaysia, Bouchard began slowly piecing together something to build on.
While she's endured early exits in Miami and Madrid, there's no question this season is already off to a better start for her than the last one. Her results in Rome this week certainly suggest she's turning a corner.
Maintaining her composure in a tense first-round match, unseeded Bouchard outlasted veteran Jelena Jankovic in a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 tussle. She followed it up with an even more impressive accomplishment: a 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 victory over No. 2 Kerber, her first Top 10 win in 20 months.
How she won those matches should inspire belief in herself. Storming out to early leads against two quality opponents, she had to work extremely hard to cross the finish line. Going the distance and surviving therefore must feel so satisfying.
It may be too soon to officially declare her "back." Yet how can you not be encouraged by what she's done at the Italian Open? One event or not, her results this week are evidence of the talent she still possesses.
Behind the scenes, Bouchard made several changes recently that are beginning to pay off.
Reunited with her old coach Nick Saviano after cycling through a litany of other voices over the past year, things seems to have helped clicked for the Canadian. His presence shouldn't be underestimated; rather, it may be the elixir she's needed all along.
As she told Carol Bouchard in an interview for the Montreal Gazette, the level of familiarity between the two is powerful.
"I’ve known him since I was 12 and he is almost like a second father figure to me. He’s been coaching me for so many years, so it’s interesting to have taken a break, not having worked together since over a year. Now we both, I think, appreciate each other and respect each other.
...
Everything he says I’m listening to, and everything I say he listens to. I think it’s what’s right for me now, and it’s interesting to reconnect with someone like that. ... I have this trust with Nick, because we know each other so well and for so long. No one else can duplicate that.
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Saviano won't begin traveling with her until the French Open, but already their partnership is providing tangible dividends. He can offer the guidance and stability required to get her back where she belongs.
Tweaks to her training regimen have also made Bouchard stronger and fitter than she's been in quite some time. It's probably no coincidence that the better she feels physically, the better she performs.
With the lowered expectations brought on by her difficult 2015, Bouchard is playing more freely again. The pieces coming into place on and off the court, her tennis resurrection is in motion.
All statistics are courtesy of WTATennis.com unless otherwise noted.
Joe Kennard is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report.
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