TENNIS US OPEN 2014 – 24th of August 2014. An interview with Eugenie Bouchard
Q. There are over 12 or 1,300 players in the draw aged 20 or under. You and Madison Keys. Do you think that’s cyclical, or is there something about seeing this crop of players and you all sort of pushing each other and spurring each other on?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think it’s a natural evolution. As the great champions get a bit older there will be some new ones coming up. I think there is a good group of us coming up. For sure, we probably motivate each other a little bit, as well. I think it’s just so interesting to have great champions who are still playing so well but are getting older, to see them play against the young guns who are going out with nothing to lose. I think it makes very interesting tennis.
Q. Is there a little more pressure playing in North America, playing this Grand Slam in North America?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I don’t see more pressure just because it’s in North America. But, you know, definitely know there are expectations and pressure, you know, to do well. But that’s, you know, something I have to get used to and something I felt since Wimbledon and just part of the process.
Q. Are you expecting more of your Army to come down from Canada?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I don’t think the Australian version of the Genie Army is coming. I don’t know if there is a New York version. We’ll see.
Q. You talked a little bit about how your life has changed a lot since reaching the Wimbledon final. I mean, for people that really can’t comprehend what that would be like, in what ways has it changed? Is it people recognizing? What have these last few weeks been like for you?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: They have definitely been, you know, busier weeks. I took some time off after Wimbledon though, which was necessary, and definitely, you know, tried to be normal a little bit for a few weeks, which was actually very nice. But for sure, you know, just being recognized a lot more, just feeling a lot of eyes on you no matter what you do, and feeling, you know, the expectations and pressure when it comes to tennis. Yeah, but it’s a position I want to be in. I want to be climbing up the ladder like that. I want to be, you know, the one that people want to beat and to get to that position. I just feel like I’m on my way to the place I want to be. I’m not there yet. Still a lot of work to do.
Q. The hard court leadup like you had, what do you tell yourself mentally? Obviously maybe it wasn’t as good as it could have been. How do you handle that mentally?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I’m not worried too much about my leadup to the US Open. I have looked back, and before all the slams I have had different leadups and have done well in them. You know, not to say, you know — you never know what’s going to happen is my point. I don’t think there is a magic recipe of what you can do before a slam to guarantee a win because you can never guarantee the result. It’s unfortunate. I would have liked to play more matches, for sure. I would have liked to have just more time on the court, but I haven’t been able to do that. Just a little bit unfortunate, but I’m feeling better this week. I’m spending a lot of time on the court, so I’m looking forward to playing my first match.
Q. What are your thoughts specifically on your first-round match?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, I have played Govortsova before. Played her two years ago, but that’s so long in tennis years it’s almost irrelevant. I’m just so grateful to be here at a Grand Slam, and, you know, playing tennis and doing what I love. I’m just going to go out and be so excited to play a match. I haven’t had that many matches on the hard courts this summer, so I’m really going to just see it as such an opportunity. I’m going to just try to go for it and try to play my best tennis and, you know, keep a positive attitude.
Q. Given the lack of that many hard court matches, how does that affect your mentality when you go out for the first time here?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: It won’t affect me, I don’t think. Maybe it’s not the ideal leadup you want, but I don’t think there is, you know, a specific way you want to lead up to a Grand Slam that’s perfect, that will guarantee results. I’m going to go in knowing maybe I haven’t played as many matches as I wanted to, but I have been hitting the practice courts recently and getting a lot of practice matches and I am going to go in swinging from the first round. It’s important for me to go in and go for it. Whether I have played ten matches or not, I still have to fight and battle no matter what. That’s what I’m going to do.
Q. For recreational players that want to train like a professional athlete, what are a couple of your favorite exercises to do in the gym and what are a couple where you say, Oh, my God, that was terrible?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think tennis is interesting because you need everything. You need to, you know, have good flexibility. I spend a lot of time stretching. You need cardio for those long points. So I would do probably, you know, bike intervals and things like that. But you also need the strength. I work out with my fitness trainer and we do strength programs. That’s why I think tennis is so hard. You need kind of every aspect of it. Even then you still get on the court and you still need to be kind of like tennis fit, match fit, which you can only get from playing. You need a good combination of everything.
Q. Are you at all surprised just how quickly you have arisen up the ranks? I am sure you always expected to get in the top 10, but to be unseeded last year and now a Top 10 seed, are you surprised how quickly that has come in one year?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I wouldn’t say surprised. Definitely proud of how I have come such a long way in a short time. But, you know, I have dreamed out of this path that I’m on, and so in my head it’s kind of a step in the journey. It’s something I have envisioned already of what I’m doing. But it is a little crazy to think like two years ago I was in the juniors here and I lost like second round juniors. Definitely happy to be doing better than that.
