Bouchard and Raonic advance to 3rd round
Maybe we should all have Jimmy Connors whisper us encouraging thoughts.
Amid a disastrous season that awkwardly mirrors last season’s steep climb through the women’s tennis rankings, Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, having sought and received the counsel of the American legend, is suddenly through to the third round of the U.S. Open after a three-set win over Polona Hercog, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
Bouchard, with 10 first-round losses in 2015, which is more than the total of matches she had won all year, enlisted Connors, the 63-year-old winner of eight Grand Slam titles, not long after she dumped coach Sam Sumyk, who himself was a replacement for Nick Saviano, who guided Bouchard up to seventh in the WTA rankings last season.
Though Connors is not her coach, and departed Queens before the season’s final Slam began, he was there on Saturday, resplendent in a seafoam green vest as the 21-year-old Canadian practised at the National Tennis Center. His role appears to be focused on the mental part of the sport, talking up Bouchard’s past success and helping her regain the confidence that quite plainly has departed her game.
“I had so much confidence last year,” Bouchard said after her match. “This year, after losing a couple matches, I felt like that went down a little bit, even though it shouldn’t have. I feel like I’m rebuilding that. It’s definitely helping me on the court.”
She also said she was proud to have finished the match off in the third set after failing to capitalize on chances to seize control of the second set.
“This year I’ve had a couple matches where it’s been tough to close out,” she said. “I just tried to block that out of my mind, block the outcome as well out of my mind, you know, and just keep playing tennis. Keep trying to play good tennis.”
Bouchard, after a win in the first round against American Alison Riske, posted a photo from the bowels of Arthur Ashe Stadium that showed Connors, in his playing days, looking over her shoulder. She says she has continued to talk to him on the phone most days. If nothing else, it seems like Bouchard has received a shot of confidence just by having him in her corner, even if he’s not in her coach’s box.
Bouchard will face Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, ranked 50th in the world, in the third round. Cibulkova beat 7th-seed Ana Ivanovic in the first round, one of a rash of upsets in Bouchard’s side of the draw that, should she find winning form again, is setting up for her nicely.
She is a long way from such considerations, though. She hadn’t won two matches in a tournament since the Australian Open in January.