The peace training
Eugenie Bouchard hopes calm can bring consistency to game
“It’s about being straightforward, being honest, and letting the little things go, as well.” EUGENIE BOUCHARD ON HER REUNION WITH COACH THOMAS HOGSTEDT
BRADENTON, FLA.— When Thomas Hogstedt landed in Tampa, Fla., in mid-November having just lost his job coaching top-10 player Madison Keys, there was someone at the airport to greet him.
Someone rather unexpected. Former pupil Genie Bouchard.
“She was waiting for me at the Tampa airport, to say, ‘Sorry’,” Hogstedt said Wednesday, after a training session with the 22-year-old Canadian at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
“I was kind of impressed with that one. She came and apologized. We talked, to see what we can do.”
Keys, who began working with the veteran Swedish tennis coach in May, had jumped into the top 10 and qualified for the WTA Tour year-end finals. But she decided to make a change.
Back in late March, after a relatively minor issue flared into a major disagreement, Bouchard had dropped Hogstedt in favour of a reunion with her former coach, Nick Saviano. The second time around proved not to be as sweet. “I decided I wanted something new. There aren’t that many great coaches out there, and most of them are taken. I’m so grateful that Thomas has agreed to work with me again. I feel that he was maybe something that was a missing piece this year to have better results,” Bouchard said.
She had him, though — and she let him go.
“I almost don’t see it as ending, more just taking a break at the spur of the moment because of an unfair incident — an unlucky bad decision by him, a bad decision by me that kind of ended things in a bad way,” she said.
“I think that’s why we were both so happy to work with each other again because we didn’t have any problems, and we really enjoyed our time together. Now it’s about being straightforward, being honest, and letting the little things go, as well — like a relationship.”
As Bouchard makes her final preparations for a season that cannot be a repeat of 2015 and 2016 — she leaves for Austra- lia Monday to kick things off in Brisbane — she has addressed some issues that plagued her over the last two years.
In addition to the return of Hogstedt, the Montreal native has added a full-time physical trainer.
Since Scott Byrnes left in May 2015, there hasn’t been anyone permanent or consistent in a job that, at the top level of the game, is almost a must.
“I especially feel the second part of this past year, when I didn’t even have a fitness trainer with me at all, I think that’s part of the reason I didn’t have the success I wanted,” Bouchard said.
Cassiano Costa, a knowledgeable Brazilian who has worked with many players, including current top-five men’s player Kei Nishikori, is already at work.
“He’s willing to travel a lot and half-give up his life, so I’ll take it,” Bouchard said.
Bouchard’s 2016 season unofficially ended on a court in Quebec City when she had a dramatic meltdown and lost to the far lower-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia.
She played a few more matches after that out of contractual obligation, but that was essentially it.
“I definitely felt this feeling of a little bit of a burnout, I had played something like six, seven, eight tournaments in a row that summer,” Bouchard said.
“I didn’t go far in many of those tournaments, and didn’t play many matches every week, but that constant mental stress of playing every week, travelling from tournament to tournament, not taking time off or to train, by the end I was so exhausted and sick of it.
“Physically and mentally it had taken its toll, I was starting to get old, nagging injuries again, and mentally just not wanting to do anything. I took a lot of time (off ), and it was honestly very, very worth it for me.”
The time off to heal the mind and soul was taken at the expense of time on court. Bouchard said that after the Australian swing, she plans to have another training block — sort of an off-season, Part II — to address that.
Right now, the focus has been on consistency.
“Trying to be solid so that even on your worst day, your base, instead of being wild and unpredictable, you have a more consistent range,” Bouchard said.
“That will give me inherently more confidence just because I know it can’t range from, say, playing like my twin sister to playing like I did to get to the finals of Wimbledon. That’s obviously the ultimate goal, to have that crazy consistency you see the top players have.”
Hogstedt said that after all the chaos, perhaps the waters have calmed for Bouchard.
“It’s kind of important there to have peace. I think she has landed now. I think she’s ready to focus more on the tennis,” he said. “It’s a process to build it up. I’m not expecting anything in the beginning. She says she will do whatever is needed. So I say, ‘Okay, let’s give it a try’.
“She’s a street fighter. When it’s tough, she just keeps going.”