PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
Bouchard looks to end slump
Eugenie Bouchard was saying, after another early- round exit from a tennis tournament, that maybe losing was a good thing.
“Sometimes I think success masks issues or problems,” she explained, referring to her remarkable summer of 2014, “so you learn a lot more if you lose.”
Bouchard, 21, is certainly giving herself plenty of opportunities to learn. Awarded a bye into the second round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S. C., as the top seed, she was promptly beaten in straight sets by American Lauren Davis, who came in ranked 66th in the world to Bouchard’s 7th. This continues a trend for the Montrealer. The rankings of the three opponents to beat her prior to this week: 113, 85, 42.
Given the slump, Bouchard sounds sanguine about the whole thing, although she also doesn’t sound like someone who has identified a problem in her game that she can easily fix. Asked on Wednesday what problems her success might have masked, Bouchard smiled and waved the question off.
“I’ll be here for an hour if I start talking about all my problems,” she said. Canadian tennis fans could be forgiven for tugging at their collars nervously.
To a point, none of this should be that big a surprise. After her charge through last season’s Grand Slams, which included a Wimbledon finals appearance, she was bound to run into some difficulties adjusting to stardom. Players who have their faces on tournament posters do not get to slip into town and get down to work; they do media interviews, promotional appearances and charity matches.
She also dropped longtime coach Nick Saviano after last season, replacing him with Sam Sumyk. Working with a new coach often brings a period of adjustment before the benefits appear on court — even Roger Federer took a dip when he started with Stefan Edberg before finding his game again.
But the manner in which Bouchard has been losing is cause for at least mild concern. In Miami late last month, she lost in straight sets to qualifier Tatjana Maria, including a 6- 0 blanking in the first set. Against Davis in Charleston, she made 33 unforced errors against only 12 winners. She is getting thumped, and not by opponents who would normally thump her.
Which is why she sounds uncertain about the explanation for her results.
“I felt a little bit slow today, overpowered,” Bouchard said. “I don’t know. Whatever happened is not good.”
After the Wimbledon run, Bouchard slumped a bit last summer, including an early loss in Montreal where she was celebrated as the conquering hometown hero. She turned it around at the U. S. Open, advancing into the second week before a loss in extraordinary heat kept her from making at least the quarter- finals in all the season’s Slams. She didn’t play great through the season’s end in Singapore, either, but strung together four victories at the Australian Open in January before getting blitzed by Maria Sharapova in the quarter- finals.
So, is she already at the point in her career where she can only get her game up for the majors? It seems rather early for that. More likely, as she says, she just needs to work some things out.
Bouchard says she will take some time to focus on training, and though she had planned to play in Stuttgart, Germany later this month, she will reconsider whether that’s the best course. It sounded like she had come to the realization that her desire to get back on the court and start beating people again was not matched by her present ability to do so.
“I think patience is going to be important for me, because I’m not very patient.”
This is probably good advice for her fans, too.