Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard's next coach has a tough act to follow.
Tennis.com reported Tuesday that Bouchard's coach during her meteoric rise during 2014, Nick Saviano, announced that the two have split up.
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"Genie and I have decided that it is best for us to end our player-coach relationship and to move in different directions for 2015."
Bouchard started the year No. 31, but a finals appearance at Wimbledon and semifinals appearances in the Australian Open and the French Open helped vault her to a high of No. 5.
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But she began to struggle at the end of the summer, losing in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. She finished the year winning only one match in her last three events of the season, including a 0-3 mark in the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore.
The breakup ends an eight-year relationship that culminated with Saviano committing to traveling with Bouchard this year. He began coaching her when she was 12 years old.
"Helping Genie grow from an ambitious 12-year-old to No. 5 in the world has been an exciting journey... This past year traveling with Genie to all of the majors has been a wonderful experience with memories I will cherish for a lifetime. I have no doubt that Genie will accomplish great things. I wish her all the best."
Bouchard, who finished the year ranked No. 7, is the second top-10 player to part with her coach. Earlier this month, world No. 3 player Simona Halep split from coach Wim Fissette after just 10 months. But Fissette took Halep from a No. 10 ranking to start the year.
Saying she wanted a coach from her home country, the Romanian-born Halep hired coach Victor Ionita and former Maria Sharapova coach Thomas Hogstedt as a consultant to start 2015.
Do you think Eugenie Bouchard's split with her coach will help her in 2015? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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