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Canadian Eugenie Bouchard battles two opponents in U.S. Open loss: Ekaterina Makarova, and the weather
NEW YORK – Genie Bouchard's Grand Slam season is over, with the final tally as follows: one final, two semi-finals, and a fourth round at the U.S. Open after a 7-6 (2), 6-4 loss to No. 17 Ekaterina Makarova late Sunday afternoon under fairly brutal weather conditions.
The heat and humidity combination was unquestionably the heaviest so far during a fairly heated eight days – even worse than Sunday, when even endurance and fitness poster boy David Ferrer of Spain was overcome.
Bouchard didn't start off playing particularly well anyway, although she did erase an early service break to push the first set into the tiebreaker. Early in the second set, it was clear she was feeling the effects of the heat and humidity. You didn't even have to be playing tennis and running around Louis Armstrong to feel it.
Bouchard asked for the trainer and, at 2-3 in the second set, the ministrations began.
The ice towel went around the neck, the ice bags were applied upon basically every Bouchard body part that was showing in an attempt to cool down her body temperature. It didn't seem to have much of an effect, though.
The 20-year-old Canadian continued on, and indeed did get it back to 4-4 from 2-4 when Makarova donated some points and, in all likelihood, started feeling the heat herself. Makarova also went with the ice towel, and also was applying ice bags to her face by that point.
It took a long time for Bouchard to come in for her post-match press conference, which at first wasn't scheduled then was pushed back after it was. She said she spent several hours with the WTA Tour doctor and trainers, wrapped in ice towels, although she wasn't administered any intravaneous fluids.
"I was feeling very light-headed and dizzy on the court. You know, just seeing things a little blurry," Bouchard said. "I think it developed as the match went on. You know, middle of the first set I started not feeling great. But I have had a few late, tough matches here, and I don't think I fully recovered from those. I was feeling it a little bit yesterday, as well. Yeah, I think that's what happened a little bit."
As a fourth-round opponent, Makarova was hardly a pushover. The 26-year-old Russian, noteworthy in that she's coached by a woman, Evgenia Manyukova, has career wins over Serena Williams (2012 Australian Open), Agnieszka Radwanska (twice), Venus WIlliams (2014 Australian Open) and Ana Ivanovic (1st round, 2011 Australian Open). She also defeated Bouchard a year ago in Washington, D.C. although at that time, Makarova was the higher-ranked of the two. She was a semi-finalist at the Rogers Cup in Montreal a few weeks ago, losing to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwanska.
Bouchard coach Nick Saviano watched a lot of Makarova video, and he thought they'd devised a pretty good plan to counter her strengths. But there was no plan that could make up for a summer that wasn't training-rich enough, and a lack of match play (and confidence-building wins) coming into the final Grand Slam of the season.
Bouchard said she started feeling a little less than 100 per cent in her third-round match against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova Saturday. And certainly she didn't look like her usual self in a practice session the next day.
"Since Wimbledon it's been a little bit of a struggle with nagging injuries. You know, even at the beginning of this tournament I said, know I haven't had the proper preparation. I have really cut down on practice time. That affects you in a match, especially after a few tough ones late at night," she said. "I'm not concerned at all, but with all that and with not feeling great in my tennis, I still battled to the second week of a slam. So there's positives."
