CANADA AT HOME, BUT IN TOUGH AGAINST UKRAINE AT FED CUP
Bouchard still trying to recapture her 2014 magic as she leads underdog team
Despite the participation of Eugenie Bouchard for the first time since 2015, Canada’s Fed Cup team will be a decided underdog against Ukraine this weekend.
The 24-year-old Bouchard had a magical season in 2014 when she reached the final at Wimbledon and achieved a career-high ranking of No. 5. But there has been a steady decline in her game and, while still Canada’s top female player, she’s currently at No. 117.
At Friday’s draw, Bouchard bemoaned the fact that the local media has forgotten her earlier
success, but the sports world is governed by the mantra: What have you done lately?
As far as her play on the tennis court, the answer is: Not much.
Bouchard has a 4-6 record on the WTA Tour this year after posting a 13-21 record in 2017. She suffered a setback at the 2015 U.S. Open when she slipped on a wet floor in the training room and suffered a concussion. She sued the USTA and a settlement was reached in February after a jury found the USTA 80 per cent responsible. Earlier this week, Bouchard and the USTA jointly announced they were moving forward with a contribution to a junior tennis program in the Bronx.
Canadian Fed Cup captain Sylvain Bruneau said this week he believed Bouchard could regain her elite status.
“She needs to win some matches and regain her confidence,” Bruneau said. “She’s capable of doing it.”
Bouchard will meet Kateryna Bondarenko — No. 78 in the world — in the second singles match Saturday. The opening match at 1 p.m. pits Montrealer Françoise Abanda against Lesia Tsurenko, who is No, 41. The order will be reversed on Sunday, with Bouchard playing Tsurenko at noon, followed by Abanda vs. Bondarenko.
If the series is tied 2-2, it will be decided by a doubles match pitting Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and 17-year-old Bianca Andreescu against Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk.
The winning team will remain in World Group II, while the loser will be relegated to regional play.
Bouchard has played both of the Ukrainian players. She beat Bondarenko 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) at Cincinnati in 2015. Earlier that year, Bouchard was still in the top-10 when she lost a three-setter to Tsurenko at Indian Wells.
“That was a very strange match,” Tsurenko said of her 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4 win. “She had an abdominal tear and I had a tear in my ankle, but we kept fighting. I didn’t know it was so bad, but I couldn’t play for two months after that.”
Tsurenko and Abanda both expressed pleasure with being drawn for the first match. Tsurenko said that allowed her to cheer for Bondarenko in the second match without getting worn out for her own match.
One of the perks of being the home team is the ability to select a playing surface which favours the locals, but the indoor hard court at the Jarry Tennis Centre will play into the strengths of both teams. Tsurenko has won four WTA Tour titles, all of them on hard courts. Her most recent win was last month in Mexico.