Eugenie Bouchard withdraws from Linz tournament before second-round match

Canadian Genie Bouchard and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, top-10 players both, were the faces of the WTA Tour event in Linz, Austria this week.

They came, they won a match. They smiled for photos. They dressed up for the ballerina-themed players' party Monday night.

But after Bouchard's withdrawal was announced shortly before she was to play against Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria at 6 p.m., Austrian time, they're both out before the second round.

“I woke up this morning and it was much, much worse. It’s hard for me to keep playing and keep making it worse, Bouchard told the media in Austria, adding that she didn't want to risk her health before the WTA Tour finals in Singapore later this month.

Both players offically qualified for the WTA Tour finals with the results last week in Beijing, so there was no longer a big incentive to play the tournament. In fact, if they needed anything, it was rest and treatment as they prepare for the big finale in Singapore, which starts on Monday, Oct. 20.

Bouchard hurt her upper left leg during her loss to Sabine Lisicki last week in Beijing, a second-round match after a first-round bye. She went from the heat and humidity of Wuhan, China a few days before into far chillier conditions a few hours north which may, combined with the physical stress of a long week in reaching the Wuhan final, have contributed to it.

Ivanovic has been nursing a hip injury.

On the plus side, they showed up. Bouchard was a late scratch from two similarly-sized, smaller WTA tournaments over the last couple of months, where she would have been the top seed.

She was heavily criticized by the organiers of a brand-new event in Hong Kong that she committed to the week after the U.S. Open in September after she bowed out. The 20-year-old Canadian had been the face of the event's promotional campaign, much as she (and Ivanovic) were the faces of the event in Linz (as you can see by the poster above).

On the minus side, these smaller tournaments have to write very nice cheques to the few WTA Tour marquee players there are, to ensure their participation. And they have a right to expect value for their money.

As one French journalist pointed out on Twitter after the news of Bouchard's withdrawal (Ivanovic pulled out after defeating France's Pauline Parmentier in her first round Tuesday night), it would be interesting to see the fine print of these contracts.

Most often, once they show up and get through one round, it's all good. And that's exactly what Bouchard and Ivanovic did.

Parmentier, a 15-year tour veteran at 28 and currently on the comeback trail from injury and ranked No. 75. didn't mince her (Twitter) words.

Translation:

"Of course, the WTA won't say anything – Lord knows you must above all not offend the stars. The difference between men's and women's tennis: Nadal, even injured, plays Shanghai."

The sanity of playing high-level tennis when you have appendicitis – as Nadal reportedly does – aside, Parmentier obviously isn't an objective bystander in this one. But while the early-round exits won't put a dent in Bouchard and Ivanovic's bank accounts, it makes a difference to her.

And what of Austrian Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, defeated by Bouchard in the first round? Well, she lost the opportunity to move on, and the tournament lost one of its few home-country players.

And Parmentier is right; there isn't likely to be any fallout from the twin defection. And despite Bouchard's rather shaky record with the smaller tournaments this year, the tournament directors aren't likely to be deterred from offering her similar incentives in the future.

It's just the law of the land.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova received a free pass to the quarter-finals with Bouchard's pullout; American qualifier Madison Brengle received the same when Ivanovic withdrew.

The Linz fans, who paid between 25 and 45 Euros for a ticket for Thursday's matches, were deprived of the event's marquee attraction, with all due respect to the likes of Karolina Pliskova and Jana Cepelova.

As well, if they couldn't arrive at 2 p.m. for the start of play and expected to see Bouchard vs. Pironkova with a 6 p.m. start (there was no advance notice of the default), they instead got a doubles match featuring Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Alicja Rosolka against Paula Kania and Maryna Zanevska.

Luckily, at least according to this ticketing chart, the tournament doesn't split its day and night sessions.

There was also an injury retirement earlier in the day, when Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova stopped after losing the first set to Karin Knapp of Italy.

Lest this be construed as a criticism of the players involved, it's not meant to be. Injuries are injuries. They happen, especially at this time of the year when the players are running on fumes after a long season. The players are independent contractors; if they don't worry about their own health and careers, no one else will.

This is how the system works, and they are just working the system. But it can't be much fun to be the director of a small tournament these days, because this type of thing is becoming a regular occurrence both on the men's and women's sides.

Nw that the WTA Tour finals just involve the top eight, they're clinching their spots earlier, making these fall European indoor events an even tougher sell.

It used to be the top 16 qualified for the year-end championship, and the Linz and Luxembourg fall indoor events in Europe, as well as the Quebec City event back when it was held at the same time before moving to September, often had some of the better players request last-minute wild cards in a quest to make the final 16.

Now, there is a secondary season finale, currently in Sofia, Bulgaria but scheduled to move to a city in China you've never heard of for 2015. It's an event for the players ranked 9-20 in the world – an afterthought, really, after the big Singapore event officially closes the season.

Ivanovic is entered in the Moscow event next week. But if she doesn't make it, it won't make that much of a dent. The tournament has a good field, there are several Russian woman players who can do well and – above all – it's a joint event with the men.

Meanwhile, Bouchard is prominently displayed on the Luxembourg event's website. She is the top seed, and the only top-15 player. Victoria Azarenka, the former No. 1, is out of the top 15 now but withdrew some time ago anyway.

The way this world works, if Bouchard does withdraw from Luxembourg, it's unlikely that any announcement will be made until the last minute, so that as many tickets as possible can be sold using her appearance as a selling point.

But her quote Thursday didn't leave much doubt:

“The plan is to take a lot of days off right now and really rest. The goal is to try play Singapore in a week and a half. I won’t have ideal training probably but I’ll give it my best," she said.

So in that sense, even if these incentivized players don't go deep into a tournament, they still have done part of their job and at least partially earned their cheques. And injuries, in the end, are part of the game.

Which doesn't mean it's a nice business – especially for the paying customers.

On the plus side, Bouchard was still around on Friday spreading the love.