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At home in Melbourne, Eugenie Bouchard breezes into the Australian Open second round
MELBOURNE, Australia – Genie Bouchard’s first Grand Slam tournament match since last year’s US Open began with a whiff on an overhead – and a laugh.
It ended with a whiff, too, as she tried and failed to toss a tournament towel up to some fans.
In between, there wasn’t much wrong in the 21-year-old’s 6-3, 6-4 victory over Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic early Monday evening, her fifth victory in six matches over the last week and one that puts her in the second round of the Australian Open.
Krunic, ranked No. 119, was a worthy but not top-level adversary. Bouchard’s second-round opponent, Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, is the No. 4 player in the world.
A different proposition.
“Just being on the grounds here gives me such good feelings, such good memories. I just smile constantly when I’m in Melbourne,” Bouchard said during a post-match interview before a few reporters in a smaller room than she’s been used to in Australia of late.
The intimate surroundings were hardly indicative of a drop in her status around these parts, despite the fact that she isn’t one of the 32 seeded players; Bouchard warmed up for her match on one of the two or three practice courts closest to the locker room, those more often than not allocated to top seeds.
Roger Federer and his three languages were in the main room at Bouchard’s appointed time, so it was downsize or wait. Federer bumped Bouchard, and Bouchard bumped a Japanese player and a large group of media to an even smaller room.
Other than one break of serve donated with double-faults on the last two points, Bouchard was solid throughout. Her opponent let her off the hook a time or two, failing to put the ball in the court on key points that might have turned things around. Still, if there were any concerns that an upgrade in tournament class and attention from the small event in Hobart last week to the first Grand Slam of the season would get to Bouchard’s nerves, those concerns were quickly allayed.
“I fully expected to play Serena first round here. It’s definitely a different situation, but I feel like it’s Genie from 2013 – kind of grinding, starting from the bottom. I played some International (level) tournaments his year; I think I played one in all of 2015,” Bouchard said.
“I truly love it, I truly love working hard and working my way up. That’s what I did in my career, and I’m just kind of having to restart and do that a bit again,” she added.
One noteworthy upgrade from the previous 12 months was the velocity on Bouchard’s serve. Going back to the fall of 2014, when she went to Singapore for the WTA Tour Finals, the Canadian was failing to crack 150 km/hour at times with her once far more fearsome first delivery. Monday, she was in the high 170s on numerous occasions.
“I definitely worked on my serve a little bit in the offseason. At the end of last year I had my ab injury so that kind of killed my serve from Wimbledon onwards,” she said. “Now that I’m healthy I feel I can do better on it. Just try to keep it simple, and just try to hit it as hard as I can, really.”
Bouchard won 77 per cent of points on her first serve, and 65 per cent of points with her second serve. Those are effective numbers.
Against Radwanska on Wednesday, Bouchard will have far less margin of error than she did against Krunic.
“She’s an amazing player. I don’t think she’s lost for awhile now so she’s definitely confident,” Bouchard said. “Try to move forward and really dominate and see what happens. And just enjoy it, really. I’m so happy to be here.”
Bouchard said she feels like this is her first year on the WTA Tour again. “I feel like 18-year-old Genie. So it’s great,” she said.
One thing 18-year-old Genie didn’t have was the Genie Army, which was out in full force for Bouchard’s return to Australia – and in full voice as well.
Some Serbian supporters tried to organize and counter the Army’s support, to no avail. Bouchard spent some time chatting when them from courtside after her victory.
The atmosphere all seems very familiar, somehow, even if Bouchard’s circumstances have changed since a year ago, when she reached the quarterfinals.
