MADRID: Four weeks ago Eugenie Bouchard was left evaluating her career after suffering a quarterfinal loss in an ITF event in America. Now she has reached the last eight of a Premier tournament in what has been a roller coaster season for the former Wimbledon finalist.
Prior to her run at the Caja Magica, Bouchard suffered four consecutive first round exits to players ranked outside of the world’s top-60 on the WTA Tour. The lull occurred after an encouraging start to 2017 where she reached the semifinals in Sydney followed by the third round at the Australian Open.
“Everyone has ups and downs. I obviously had more downs than I wanted to.” Admitted Bouchard.
At the age of 20, Bouchard was once tipped to top the women’s tour after reaching the 2014 Wimbledon final. During that same year, she clinched her maiden WTA title and peaked at a high of fifth in the world. Since then, she has become unhinged by her lack of consistency and hasn’t been ranked in the world’s top-40 since September 2016. The Canadian does have the ability to compete with the best in the world. She illustrated that in her performance against Maria Sharapova earlier this week. So what is the problem?
“I think mentally not being in the right place, allowing outside voices kind of in, allowing the pressure to get to me. Quite a few things here and there that just affected me at different times over the past couple years.” She explained.
The journey back to the top
In the midst of her recent woes, there is reason for celebration. In Madrid, the 23-year-old has scored three consecutive wins to reach the last eight of a Premier Mandatory event for the first time in her career. Still, there is no room for complacency.
“This is three matches. I want to do 50 more this year. It’s a long road ahead of me, as well.”
Boasting Bouchard’s driving force to thrive is her desire to become a better player. Some might assume this means returning to her form of three years ago, but that is the last thing on her mind. An understandable objective considering her rivals on the tour have become familiar with the aspects of her game.
“I don’t even want to be that player. I want to be better than that player. I want to stop thinking about those results and the past.” She said in reference to her 2014 success.
Next up in Bouchard’s quest for a resurgence will be Svetlana Kuznetsova, a player she has lost to twice before. This week she has already displayed glimmer of her best tennis, but the search for consistency continues to be her nemesis.
