By Chris Oddo | Tuesday January 15, 2019
As Canada's Eugenie Bouchard prepares for the ultimate challenge in tennis, she reflects on what it has taken to find her footing in the sport again.
Photo Source: Fred Lee/Getty
The last time Eugenie Bouchard and Serena Williams met on a tennis court, both players were in the Top 10 and one was considered a potential threat to the other’s dominion. That was at the WTA Finals in 2014, when Williams shellacked Bouchard 6-1, 6-1 and handed a reality check to the Canadian.
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Bouchard had enjoyed her best season on tour, reaching the semis or better at three majors, but a winless trip to Singapore was a tough blow that she would never recover from.
Since then Bouchard has fallen on hard times, dropping way down in the rankings to as low as 193 in the World in June of last season.
But since then Bouchard appears to have bottomed out, and under the tutelage of Maria Sharapova’s former coach she’s started to piece her game together.
On Tuesday in Melbourne she took another step with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Peng Shuai, and now the biggest challenge that the sport has to offer awaits in the form of 23-time major champion Serena Williams.
“I think she's, you know, the greatest ever,” Bouchard told reporters on Tuesday. “So it's just so 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.”
Bouchard improved to 3-1 on the season with her win on Tuesday, and she says her goal is not to seek perfection, but rather improvement.
“For me, it's this never-achievable goal of perfection or trying to play as well as I can play,” she said. “I just want to challenge myself to see how well I can play on the court. That helps me stay process-oriented and focus on, you know, tactically what I need to do in that match right there. It makes me enjoy it and challenge myself, ‘Okay, how good can I play?’ That's kind of always the goal.”
Bouchard owns a 0-2 lifetime record against Williams, and she currently owns a nine-match losing streak against the Top 20 (Williams is ranked 16), but at this point it’s not in her career she’s got lots to feel good about. For one, 2018 is over.
“I had some low points in 2018, and, you know, it was tough,” she said. “You just have to keep going. I knew deep down that I still believed in myself and my game and still relatively young, so, I know I still have a little bit of time to play tennis. I decided let's just give it everything right now and see what happens. There were some very 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.”
Williams herself sees a certain strength in Bouchard.
“I really like that she doesn't quit,” the American said on Tuesday after dismantling Tatjana Maria in round one. “You know, people write her off, and she doesn't let that bother her.”
A strong effort against Williams—win or lose—could be another sign that Bouchard is doing the right things under coach Joyce. At the very least it will be a chance to see how her game shapes up with the best in the business—and that’s something she relishes.
“I'm super excited,” she said. “This is why we play the big tournaments, to play the best players.”