TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN – 21st of January 2015. E.Bouchard d. K.Bertens 6-0, 6-3. An interview with Eugenie Bouchard
Q. Except for the little hiccup at the end, you were in control of that match. Do you think it was mostly you or a combination of you and her kind of being erratic?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think I put pressure on her a lot and I think probably forced her to make some errors. I was happy with the way I was able to step in and control the points, whether I did the winner or she did the error. In the end I think that’s how I want to play. Just need to stay a bit more focused at the end to try to close it out. More on my terms.
Q. How did that little hiccup actually happen?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I mean, I felt like I was playing really well the game before. I was really going for it. Just a few loose errors by me. Then on her service game, I think she kind of went for it. She had nothing to lose. A few good serves. But I’m glad I kind of was able to refocus on my service game. I knew that was an important one so I could try to hold my serve to finish it, you know, not let her have another chance serving. So I just tried to go back to basics and I was able to refocus.
Q. You made the semifinal last year. You’ve been pretty comfortable this time around. Is there anything about Australia you like?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: There’s a lot about Australia I like. I love this tournament. I’ve always had great memories from it, even in the juniors, when I played the juniors here. It was the first slam I did well at in juniors. Same thing in the pros. I love the surface of the court. I love the people. I love the fans. I love the hot weather. I like the accent a lot. I mean, I could keep going, but I’ll stop with that.
Q. You’ve had scheduling twice for a night match. Do you have a preference as to when you’d rather play?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I don’t have a preference. I think it’s important not to, because we have to be so flexible as tennis players. It’s not like other sports where they know they play at 7:00 p.m. every second day. Tennis is really different in terms of we can play at 11:00 a.m. or 9:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. You have to be so flexible. I just try to go with it, try to adapt. I slept until 1:00 p.m. today, so I think that helped me. It’s almost like I’m playing during the day when you sleep till one because you don’t have any time to do anything. You have to get up and start doing everything you have to do. It’s almost like day matches for me.
Q. Did you follow Sharapova at all today? A chance you might see her down the road. Did you see it was pretty tight?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I didn’t. I mean, I know like what happened, but I was like warming up and doing my things. But, yeah, I mean, that’s far off in the future. So I just have a match on Friday and that’s all I’m concerned about.
Q. Does the surprise you someone 25 years old, 150, can hold two match points against Sharapova? Does that surprise you?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No. We’re at a Grand Slam. Every player can perform well. It’s just if they bring their game on that day and maybe someone else is not play as well that day. I mean, there are a lot of good players out there. This stuff happens all the time. Doesn’t surprise me.
Q. Sleeping until 1:00 p.m., can I ask how many hours of sleep that was?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: That was like between 12 and 13 hours of sleep.
Q. This may be the first time in your professional career that you are going to face a player whose coach has coached you and may know you better than other coaches. If you were Nathalie Tauziat, what would you tell Caroline Garcia about you?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I don’t think I’m going to answer that. She’s amazing; you’re going to get killed. No, I’m kidding. Yeah, that’s true. I worked with Nathalie a little bit. I guess that’s how the tennis world is. It’s a small world. Kind of musical chairs in terms of coaching. I’m sure it won’t be the last time in my career. Yeah, but it won’t really bother me. I’m not playing against the coach, I’m playing against the player. I’m not going to worry about it. I’m still friendly with Nathalie, so it’s all good.
Q. Last week there was a story that the Hong Kong Tennis Association were fined by the WTA because of what happened in Hong Kong. The reason was they felt they damaged your reputation. Did you feel the incident damaged your reputation?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I don’t think so. You know, I didn’t make any mistake in any way. I never entered the tournament, so I can’t withdraw from a tournament if I’ve never entered it. It’s just unfortunate what happened, but I think the WTA is good in terms of they want to protect their players, protect their own image. I think what they did is fine.
