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As Jimmy Connors leaves New York, protégé Eugenie Bouchard readies to try to put his advice into practice at the US Open
NEW YORK – In about five days, retired tennis great Jimmy Connors may have been in Genie Bouchard's face more than anyone has all season long – combined.
But the American legend left town Sunday and won't return to New York for a week. So when Bouchard follows countryman Milos Raonic onto Court 17 late Monday afternoon for her first-round singles match against American Alison Riske, she can only rely on his many words, which may still be ringing in her ears.
Here's what it looked like at a final practice Sunday, which took place on Arthur Ashe Stadium – the site of a couple of solid Bouchard victories a year ago, in night matches against Barbora Strycova and Sorana Cirstea.
Connors wouldn't do interviews during his stint with Bouchard this week.
Bouchard, talking to US Open rights holder TSN, said the (mostly) one-way conversations were partly his experiences as a player on the big stages, and partly reminding her that she has done this before.
"The thing that stuck with me the most is just to have that confidence, because you know, I’ve done it before, I have reached a high level, reached late rounds of Grand Slams, and so I know how to do it. I have the experience. I’ve done it before, which proves that I can do it again. And I just need to get out of my own way, let it come out, and it will happen," Bouchard told TSN.
She said quite a few other things, too, in the interview. One was that it was better to have no coach than "one that causes harm", although she was clear that even though she did need to start figuring things out for herself, that didn't mean she doesn't need a coach.
"I just want to kind of forget about the past, the good and the bad, and kind of start a new career, starting tomorrow, and not have so many thoughts about the past," She also told TSN. "There are so many people who have given their opinion, so much stuff out there about it that I really need to put it all aside."
Bouchard was also very supportive of Aussie Nick Kyrgios, with whom she will play mixed doubles if the USTA grants them a wild card. She had no hesitation, she said, when he reached out – despite all of the notoriety surrounding the events in Montreal a few weeks ago.
"Really interesting, and at the end of the day I think he’s good for the game. He’s energetic, he’s charismatic, and that’s a really unique thing that we don’t have so much on the tour," she said.
Once again, Connors was in Bouchard's face for most of the practice session Sunday, during which she played practice games with diminutive Serbian player Aleksandra Krunic. And once again, it wasn't a particularly good session.
There were some good individual points here and there, but the majority of them ended with Bouchard errors. She looked so ill at ease on the court; it almost appeared as though she was second-guessing herself before every shot she hit. They could just be last-minute, pre-Slam nerves, but the previous practice against Mladenovic felt very much the same.
At the end, Connors once again was preaching his sermon – Bouchard finally had to interrupt him so she could shake Krunic's hand, standard procedure after players practice together.
One thing we do know: Bouchard and Connors have an uncanny, almost eerie fashion simpatico.
As you can see in the featured photo above, once again they were perfectly colour-coded – this time in white, black and aqua.
On Friday, it was shades of lilac.
On Saturday, multi shades of grey.
Too bad there are no bonus points for that.
