Eugenie Bouchard and coach Nick Saviano part ways

A fruitful coaching relationship that began when Canadian tennis star Genie Bouchard was just 12 years old and continued nearly unabated for more than eight years officially ended Monday.

The word came not from Bouchard herself but from Saviano's academy, in an official press release announcing the two had parted ways just weeks after the 20-year-old from Montreal completed a hugely successful breakout season on the WTA Tour.

Here are the official quotes from Saviano.

"This past year traveling with Genie to all of the majors has been a wonderful experience with memories I will cherish for a lifetime.  I have no doubt that Genie will accomplish great things. I wish her all the best."

There was no hint, when Bouchard spoke via conference call from an exhibition event in the British Virgin Islands less than a week ago, that the relationship was anything but ongoing.

Asked again, as she was the previous week on French television, about whether she had committed to lead Canada's Fed Cup team against the Czech Republic next February in their first-round World Group tie in Quebec City, Bouchard once again was noncommittal.

Unless Bouchard already has a replacement ready and waiting to go (possible, but unlikely), she couldn't have meant anyone other than Saviano.

Bouchard's next stop upon leaving the Necker Island event was south Florida, where Saviano's academy is located. That's where she is currently; somewhere between then and now, they ended things.

A message to Bouchard's mother Julie Leclair, who in the absence of a representative agency has been handling most of her daughter's affairs the last few months, has not been returned.

We've also learned that Bouchard has pulled out of her commitment to the inaugural International Premier Tennis League, an exhibition league in Asia due to kick off on Friday. She was scheduled to leave Tuesday.

More to come ...