Fed Cup turning out to be tough times, not a new beginning, for Eugenie Bouchard

MONTREAL – Genie Bouchard has had a lot on her plate the last few months, dealing with a new coach, the fact that her opponents are starting to get a read on her game, a bit of a confidence dip, and some injuries.

The latest chapter was self-created.

And while it's not something quantifiable, it may have made the difference on Saturday as Bouchard fell to Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania in a match that could have given Canada a 2-0 lead in their World Group I playoff tie in Montreal.

Instead, Bouchard fell 6-4, 6-4, nullifying the bonus provided by young teammate Françoise Abanda earlier in the day, when the No. 260-ranked player in the world upset No. 33, Romanian No. 1 Irina-Camelia Begu in the day's first match.

Here's a summary of the "handshake" situation, if you've stayed away from the Internet the last couple of days.

Here's what happened between Dulgheru and her teammates after the victory.

Dulgheru is a well-liked player, and a mature player who at age 24, has been through several years of injuries, surgeries and comebacks. But she and the entire Romanian team had a pretty good chuckle at Bouchard's expense.

That can't feel good. And all of it may have turned the tide on this tie, which is now legitimately up for grabs.

After the match, Bouchard said she felt a little better on court than she had in her previous three tournaments, all of which ended with difficult defeats against players ranked far lower than she. She said that she felt "more like she feels on court when things are going well."

But she was impatient - she admitted to it, and Dulgheru also pointed it out. She tried to pull the trigger on points too early, and ended up making too many errors.

Dulgheru said she noticed that many of the errors were coming from the forehand side, a side that can also produce a lot of winners. So she directed a lot of shots there, and tried to eventually head to the open backhand side. She also put a lot of balls in court and, too often, Bouchard was the one who made the mistake.

To Bouchard's credit, she kept her composure in impressive fashion on the court Saturday. But the dark circles under her eyes the last few days certainly point to the tough week she's having.

Here's how it looked.

Meanwhile, the news of Bouchard's "non-handshake" traversed the tennis world in short order.

She didn't get a lot of support there.

And then, if the day weren't bad enough, the CBC web report on her defeat featured a photo of ... five-foot-nothing Lauren Davis. Davis was the one who handed Bouchard arguably her worst defeat of the season so far, a couple of weeks ago in Charleston.

Ouch. No doubt will be happy not to live this day again.

The Canadian will be first up on Sunday to try to give Canada a 2-1 lead. With Begu, the Romanian No. 1, suffering from cramping in her calf during the match against Abanda, the Romanian captain said she might not make a decision until Sunday about whether Begu would play, or perhaps be replaced by Andreea Mitu.

That would be a break for Bouchard, who could sure use one at this point.