
Eugenie Bouchard (zimbio.com)
Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard has vowed to not be disheartened by her critics after what has been a difficult season.
Since the start of the year, the Canadian has fallen outside the top 50 to a current position of 79th in the world. Bouchard has failed to win back-to-back matches in a tournament since her run to the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open in May. In recent weeks she has also been forced to miss the start of the Asian swing after catching a virus during the US Open, where she lost in the first round to Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina.
Bouchard will be seeking better fortunes next week at the Hong Kong Open. The tournament is set to feature five top-20 players with Elina Svitolina being the top seed. Venus Williams and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki are also participating.
“I’m looking forward to playing some good tennis and sweating a lot. I spent a lot of time training in Florida where it’s pretty similar conditions so hopefully that will help me out.” Bouchard told reporters in Hong Kong.
Unseeded in the draw, the 23-year-old is hoping to end the season on a high note. Recently she parted ways with coach Thomas Hogstedt, who has been mentoring her since 2016. Now looking for somebody to replace the Swede, Bouchard plans to take a new ‘mental approach’ to her game as she seeks to return back to her best. She has been ranked as high as fifth back in 2014.
“I’m just continuing to work hard and I want to try to approach it mentally a little bit differently and be a bit more relaxed, not put so much pressure on myself about winning matches and not being so concerned about what people say,” she explained.
“There’s always a lot you can improve and it’s the magic question of finding out what’s going wrong that you need to change to become a better player and improve your ranking.”
The goal for the rest of the year does not involve how well the Canadian performs in tournaments. For Bouchard the priority lies with her personal wellbeing in the sport.
“I just want to end the season enjoying being on the court and enjoying competing and whatever happens will happen.” She concluded.
Super Bowl date continues
Away from the court, Bouchard also revealed that she is still texting the person who she went on a high-profile date with. Earlier this year, Bouchard went on a blind date with John Goehrke after losing a bet with him on Twitter. She said she would go on a date with Goehrke if the New England Patriots fought back to win the Super Bowl, which they did.
“You’re not going to believe this, but he texted me this morning. The past couple of days we have been texting. We keep in contact once in a while,” Said Bouchard.
“It got so much more attention than anyone expected, I was literally on my couch on Twitter thinking nothing of it and then it blew up into this huge thing.”
She gave no indication about if the two would meet again during the off-season.