Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard's wayward 2015 season added another chapter Monday in a rout at the hands of another lower-ranked player.
The question becomes whether Bouchard's 2015 season is the aberration - or was it her 2014 season, in which she reached the semifinals of three of the four Grand Slam events?
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Before the 25th-ranked Bouchard's 6-1, 6-0, 62-minute loss to No. 47 Roberta Vinci during the first round of the Connecticut Open on Monday, livetennis.com explored the meteoric rise and fall of the enigmatic Bouchard and concluded that she may not have been as good as her No. 5 ranking in 2014 suggested. And with the US Open approaching, the prospects of a Bouchard turnaround appear dim. She has a 9-17 record in 2015.
"Looking beneath the surface of Bouchard's 2014 results, it's rare to find an impressive display despite deep tournament runs. An Australian Open semifinal sounds awesome, until you look at what resistance she had to go through to get there: Namely world Nos. 487, 100, 68, 120, and 14 (injured).
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"Also in 2014 - her 'highly successful' season, complete with two Slam semis and a Wimbledon final - she won her lone WTA title. This happened at a clay-court International event overshadowed by Roland Garros, and the highest ranked player she beat was the world no. 63. In her French Open campaign, she beat no one ranked higher than 99 before the fourth round, and at Wimbledon there were issues surrounding both the top 10 players (a shattered Kerber and an injured Halep) she took down. Outside of the Slams, she progressed passed round 3 just 4 times out of 18 - some of these aided by first round byes. While she qualified for the WTA finals, she scratched up a mere 11 games in 3 matches."
Livetennis.com is not suggesting that Bouchard is devoid of talent; she is one of the game's more powerful hitters and outslugged foes during her 2014 breakout campaign.
But opponents figured out her style, and she has yet to develop a Plan B, according to livetennis.com:
"Now that tactic has been discovered, she's sussed out. And yet she still blatantly refuses to seek another game-plan - despite 3 out of 4 losses to players outside the top 100 this season.
"Genie needs a change, and not just a change of coach - a move which she recently made, and one which has so far done nothing for her either by way of results, or by a fresh mentality. If she continues to stick to her old tactics, which have run their course, then she has a choice: Say Goodbye to tennis, or Hello to a top 50 ranking."
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