The eggs were runny. The toast soggy. The bacon just a bit off and the strawberries and cream mushy and curdled, respectively.
Canada’s first ever breakfast at Wimbledon didn’t go down very well.
With the world watching, Eugenie Bouchard was served a 6-3, 6-0 trouncing by Petra Kvitova in a match that was exactly as lopsided as the score suggested.
“It was really tough for me today,” Bouchard, who became the darling of London in the space of a special two weeks, said in her courtside interview. “I’m proud of how I played this whole tournament — [But] I feel like it’s a step in the right direction — I don’t know if I deserve all of your love today, but I really appreciate it.”
She’ll be back. Her resolve seems that unshakeable; her talents that apparent and — helpfully — the women’s game that wide open at the moment.
“I’m very motivated to win a Grand Slam,” she said to reporters at the All-England Club. “I’ve been close to winning in every slam this year.”
No one thinks she won’t or can’t climb to the pinnacle of her sport and sooner than almost anyone expected. Doubly as exciting is that she may soon be joined there by Milos Raonic, who survived to the semis on the men’s side of the draw, making for a stunning week for Canadian tennis and Canadian sport.
But it’s hard to imagine anything in the future will be as fairy tale as this moment promised to be.
That’s the real disappointment about what happened on Saturday, not the loss, but what was lost.
The menu looked perfect, with Bouchard taking Centre Court at the cathedral of tennis as the eye-catching talent poised to become a dish never served by Canada before: a shooting star — superstar — with her own Montreal Canadiens jersey.
The script was written, needing only a perfect ending. The telegenic 20-year-old vaulted from the anonymity of a junior Wimbledon title in 2012 to the cusp of the real thing on Saturday as families across the country set aside a sunny summer morning to watch Bouchard morph into the most treasured commodity in sports — young, gifted and beautiful.
But the final scene didn’t play out. The obstacle in the form of 24-year-old Kvitova who won her first Wimbledon title as a 21-year-old three years ago — was insurmountable.
The clarity of purpose Bouchard had shown tearing through her side of the draw without losing a set melted under the heat generated by the powerful Czech star’s massive service game. Even more disconcertingly for Bouchard was the way Kvitova returned serve and defended on the few occasions the Canadian star was able to attack.
Suddenly it was Bouchard slumping her shoulders between shots and dragging her feet between points.
“Sometimes your opponent plays better than you,” said Bouchard, who held serve just twice in the match. “And that’s what happened today.”
As sporting occasions go it will be remembered more for what could have happened than what actually took place.
Not that Bouchard becoming the first Canadian to advance to a Wimbledon final (or the final of any of tennis’ four majors) is a feat that should ever be underestimated. Less than a year ago at the Rogers Cup she was the 55th-ranked ranked player in the world and lost to Kvitova in straight sets in the second round in Toronto.
For tennis fans and sports fans she was a worthy object of curiosity.
This year she turned into a transcendent rocket ship. It started with her flip joke about wanting to date Justin Bieber and the formation of GenieArmy — her mostly male fan club — as she became the first Canadian to make it to the semifinals of the Australian Open and was bolstered by her march to the semis at the French.
But Wimbledon is a different stage. There is none bigger in tennis and arguably none bigger in any individual sport — certainly for women — and Bouchard owned the place for two weeks.
The only other Canadian to have a similar experience was Mike Weir during Masters week in 2003, but even that isn’t the same. The nature of golf is that excellence doesn’t translate into dominance, which is what creates transcendent figures in sport.
Weir’s win was never expected to be the beginning of something or the end. It was recognized for what it was: an elite Canadian athlete marshalling his skills to seize an opportunity that couldn’t be reliably expected to present itself again.
In tennis being among the top-four in the world for any length of time — which is where Bouchard certainly appears to be headed — means being in contention at major after major, for years at a time.
And not to dwell on looks, but the fact that Bouchard has them and a sharp, quick personality to match is very much part of her story.
If Bouchard is indeed the player she appears to be — no other women made it to the semifinals in all three of the year’s majors — and if her game grows from this setback rather than withers, Canada could have a superstar on it’s hands, an athlete as recognizable in Paris and New York and London as in Montreal or Calgary.
It’s a rare package and one that comes with massive financial rewards.
The wealthiest female athletes on the planet come from tennis. On Forbes list of the top-earning female athletes in 2013, four of the top five and seven of the top nine were tennis stars headed by Maria Sharapova, Bouchard’s idol, who won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004 and earned $23 million in endorsements last year.
All of that was on offer for breakfast for Bouchard as we gathered Saturday morning. That’s what was on the menu.
But not all meals turn out. Not all fairy tales end well.
Bouchard claims she wasn’t overwhelmed by the moment, but she was overwhelmed by Kvitova, who was better in every aspect of the game. There is precedent. As tennis great and Bouchard booster Chris Evert pointed out on the broadcast, she was crushed similarly by the great Billie Jean King in her first Wimbledon final back in 1972 and yet recovered to win 18 majors.
In Mike Weir’s first chance to win a golf major he shot an 80 while paired with Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship.
Excellence comes with pain.
“It’s a tough road to get to where I want to be, no matter what,” she said.
The hope and challenge for Bouchard and all who watched is that this is just the beginning of her journey and there will be many more breakfasts to share together after the first.