Bouchard, Williams set up a dream date
When Genie Bouchard recently posted a photo of her bikini-clad self on social media, with a poor-lonely-me caption, Mets pitching ace and Instagram follower Noah Syndergaard was quick to respond, in a drooling manner.
“If that pool wasn’t heated before, it is now.”
Oh to be young and gorgeous, as both athletes certainly are.
It’s unclear whether Syndergaard and Bouchard made hookup plans for the future. The Westmount native says she uses social media for a laugh, engaging with her 2 million followers. But for now, Bouchard has a date with Serena Williams.
Possibly a date the 24-year-old would rather have avoided. Could be a speeddating thing when the two women meet in the second round of the Austra- lian Open on Thursday, Down Under time.
Williams, of course, is the greatest female tennis player of all time. And, were she to emerge victorious from the Melbourne fortnight, tied with Margaret Court at 24 career Grand Slam titles. She’s got seven Aussie trophies already, most recently in January 2017, triumphant over sister Venus and the last major championship Serena has savoured.
A year ago, of course, Serena Williams was still on maternity leave with daughter Olympia, now 16 months old, and just beginning to train again. The former and longtime No. 1, seeded 16th, demolished opening-round opponent Tatjana Maria 6-0, 6-2.
Bouchard wasn’t too shabby either, tidily dispatching Shuai Peng 6-2, 6-1. But come on. This is the formidable Serena, looking
top-notch fit, the whistle-messaging of power and prowess echoed in a green onesie — her “Serena-tard,” she dubbed it — revealed after unzipping a knee-length black jacket, though still also wearing compression stockings to help avert the blood clots that have plagued her.
Anything can always happen in sports, of course, but the consensus view is that Bouchard will be crushed by the 37-year-old tennis goddess.
And yet Bouchard claims to be eager for the steep challenge.
“I’m super-excited,’’ she said after her last match. “This is why we play the big tournaments, to play the best players.’’
Of which she was one, in what now feels like a former lifetime, hitting world No. 5 in her breakthrough 2014 season, which included the Australian Open semis and Wimbledon final.
“I mean, she’s the greatest ever,” said Bouchard of Williams. “So it’s just cool that I’ll be able to share the court with her and an opportunity to see how I compare to one of the best players.’’
It’s being pumped as the match of day four at the tournament.
“Her ranking is top 20 right now, but to me she’s always basically No. 1,’’ Bouchard gushed. “I admire the longevity of her career, her dominance over such a long time, how she’s come back so many times, from injury, pregnancy, etcet- era.’’ Adding with a laugh: “I don’t want to talk about it too much and put her on too much of a pedestal because I came to play her in two days. But I love her.’’
Williams is complimentary in return.
“It will be a great match. She does everything well and I really like that she doesn’t quit. You know, people write her off and she doesn’t let that bother her. She continues to fight, do what she needs to do.’’
Given that Bouchard has been on the pro circuit for six years, it’s odd that her head-tohead record with Williams is so slim. They’ve met only twice, Williams taking both.
A respectable outcome would doubtless be sufficient for Bouchard; as she says, a way to measure herself anew against the lady stalwarts. Last July, she slumped to a career nadir point, falling below 200 in the rankings and needing to grind through qualifiers at two Slams.
That definitely rankled, Bouchard hard-pressed to not lose faith in herself, as countless others have lost faith in her, disapproving of the off-court distractions, the endorsement contracts (many of which have disappeared), the social media saturation. She’s played in only two WTA finals over the last four years.
“It’s hard to keep going when you lose week after week,” Bouchard admitted earlier this month. “Maybe I missed some steps and now it’s time to redo all those steps. But I did them, I did my fair share and now I never want to have to qualify for a Slam again … hopefully.’’
But she ended the year with momentum, reversing the downward trend, reaching the semis at the Luxembourg Open and defeating former world No. 1 Garbine Muguruza at an exhibition match in Hawaii to reach the final. Bouchard then opened 2019 with her first career doubles title (with American Sofia Kenin) and made it to the quarters in Auckland, an Open tune-up. In the process, she’s clawed back to world No. 87 under yet another new coach, Michael Joyce.
This time, Bouchard vows, she’s got her groove back for keeps, regardless of what happens in Melbourne.
“I knew deep down that I still believed in myself and my game. I’m still relatively young so I still have a little bit of time to play. I decided, let’s just give it everything right now and see what happens. There were some tough moments last year, for sure. But I’m proud that I stuck through them and turned my season around, which has enabled me to start well this year as well.’’
Bouchard is joined in the second round in Oz by compatriot Bianca Andreescu, who survived a lengthy two-tiebreak three-setter with American wild-card Whitney Osuigwe, in her first career main draw at the AO, after coming through qualies. The Mississauga 18-year-old rocketed 45 spots in the rankings with an eye-opening run to the final in Auckland, stunning top seed and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the process.
On the men’s side, both Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov will be seeking a third-round berth after proceeding with straight-set ease through their opening matches, though Shapovalov did face a third-set tiebreaker against Pablo Andujar. Seeded 27th, Shapo’s next challenge is No. 82-ranked Taro Daniel of Japan.
Raonic had no problems contending with native son Nick Kyrgios in front of a loudly partisan crowd, taking the spectators out of the equation with a dominant performance. Deploying his bazooka serve, as per usual, Raonic racked up 30 aces and didn’t allow Kyrgios a single break point, dropping just six points on his first serve.
The Australian experienced a flare-up from a recurring knee injury and received physio ministration several times during the match. But the bad boy of tennis did not blame his defeat on the ailment.
“I don’t think that was at all the reason I lost. He played unbelievable. Unbelievable serving. Never seen serving like that in my life. I’ve never been a part of it. I was just watching it literally going side to side.’’
Raonic has a tough draw in the tournament and will next have his hands full with 2014 Aussie champion Stan Wawrinka. Asked if he’d ever had such a tough — on-paper — opening two rounds at a Slam before, Raonic was blunt.
“No.”