MONTREAL — For Eugenie Bouchard, it actually could be worse.
She could be playing this Rogers Cup at home again.
As it is, she’s in Toronto with the rest of the WTA crowd, while defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the men’s tour are here in Carey Price country.
Given that Bouchard’s efforts at Parc Jarry last August were nothing short of disastrous — she bombed out in her first match to American qualifier Shelby Rogers, losing two sets at love, and appeared to blubber on court while doing so — it’s probably more helpful that she’ll be trying to use the newly named Aviva Centre on the grounds of York University to kickstart her moribund 2015 tennis season.
Montreal probably is too pressure packed a place for her to play right now.
That’s even more the case that she arrived in Toronto amidst a small cloud of controversy, having officially canned coach Sam Sumyk last week. This came as a surprise to absolutely no one given her utter lack of on-court success since teaming up with Sumyk. Throw in an abdominal injury and some confusing Fed Cup conduct and it’s clear Bouchard arrives at the Rogers Cup hoping to significantly change the narrative on her season.
The fact that the city is agog about the Blue Jays 24 hours a day at the moment with the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees in town this week may allow her to escape some scrutiny, which could help her focus on performance.
The 21-year-old Bouchard, let’s not forget, is still an extremely important figure in Canadian tennis as the sport continues to grow and possibly develop some depth behind her, not to mention on the men’s side behind Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil. As fast as Bouchard rose to the top, we’re now already talking about the need for a comeback, a way for her to remain a viable model for other young Canadians looking to achieve in the sport.
The coaching change has everyone chattering, but to be honest, it’s really not that big of a deal.
In fact, in tennis, it’s sort of expected, and the fact that Bouchard didn’t have much of an explanation for the decision doesn’t matter. Andy Murray changed from Ivan Lendl to Amelie Mauresmo, Roger Federer hired Paul Annacone then moved to Stefan Edberg and two years ago Maria Sharapova axed Jimmy Connors after one match.
And those are just the biggest stars.
Tennis players, in general, change coaches with regularity, and it usually has to do with adverse results, but often other stuff. Understand, coaches in this sport are usually travelling companions as players move around the globe, and it’s not easy to make those close, professional relationships work over the long term.
With Bouchard, it wasn’t long after she hired Sumyk that she was quoted saying she’d like to get back to playing the way she had last year while being coached by Nick Saviano, and you knew this might not last long.
She’s won two of her last 14 matches, and is clearly suffering from a crisis of confidence. The abdominal issue hasn’t helped, she’s made some decisions that have turned into distractions and there are technical problems that have gone unresolved, particularly on the backhand side and with the serve.
However, let’s remember it was only eight months ago that she was seeded No. 6 in the Australian Open and won four matches before losing in the quarters to Sharapova. Since then, she’s dropped out of the top 20, but that just puts her in the company of other players who used to be in the top 10 like Sabine Lisicki, Victoria Azarenka, Jelena Jankovic and Sam Stosur. Azarenka and Jankovic were once both No. 1 in the world.
Players, however, go the other way as well. Take, 22-year-old Sloane Stephens of the United States, a Bouchard contemporary, who had fallen all the way from No. 11 to No. 35 in the world. But this past weekend in Washington, she pulled her game back together and not only appeared in her first ever WTA final, but won it.
It’s rarely just a straight line of progression in tennis. Tsonga is a great example. He’s been as high as No. 5 in the world and was shockingly good last year in Toronto, dismissing Murray, Grigor Dimitrov, Novak Djokovic and Federer in rapid succession, all in straight sets, but the Frenchman comes into Montreal this week a relatively pedestrian No. 12 in the ATP rankings.
Sharapova, Bouchard’s idol, fell to 18th in the world back in 2010 as she battled shoulder problems. She’s back up to No. 2 now.
What we’re going to find out about Bouchard this week, starting with Tuesday’s match against Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, is whether she’s having any success getting herself pointed in the right direction again. Only she really knows what’s wrong, and it’s likely not just one thing, but a combination of factors that has seen her lose nine matches to players ranked outside the top 40 this season.
She hasn’t beaten a top 20 player in 2015, and she’ll probably have to do so to get very far at this Rogers Cup, given that her tumbling ranking will produce tougher draws for the next little while at least.
Publicly, she’s said a great many peculiar things in recent weeks, from dismissing defeats as no big deal to musing about being retired before she’s 30 to dismissing all critics as “haters” anxious to tear her down. It’s as though there’s a curious sense of denial about her, that what’s happening to her either isn’t happening or isn’t her responsibility.
It’s got to start with focussing on her game above all the other elements in her life, and many wonder if she’s just a young athlete with a lot of people and interests tugging at her, vying for her attention. Without a coach, that responsibility to focus on tennis now begins and ends totally with her, and it’s a rare 21-year-old who can organize their schedule and practice requirements and training needs by themselves.
Bencic is a good opportunity for Bouchard to demonstrate she’s figuring it out. The Swiss, three years younger than Bouchard, is evidence that in this game there’s always a next generation coming. Bencic, 22nd in the rankings, was beating Bouchard 6-4, 3-0 at Eastbourne three months ago before Bouchard retired with the abdominal problem, so there’s a bit of history here.
Beating Bencic on Tuesday would be a positive statement for Bouchard. Heck, at this point, even a really good showing in defeat would be an improvement. Her 2015 has been just that disappointing so far.