Tennis often offers the most stupefying results and Eugenie Bouchard’s 0-6, 6-2, 0-6 defeat to American world No113 Shelby Rogers on Tuesday in Montreal was certainly one of them.
The young Canadian world No8 failed to capitalise on her home court advantage and bombed in her first appearance since Wimbledon.
The Montreal loss shocked the home crowd and the now famous “Genie Army”, Bouchard’s legion of dedicated fans, who first appeared during her semi-final run at the Australian Open early this season and have continued to follow the 20-year-old across the globe.
A handful of the original members of the Genie Army flew from Australia to Montreal to support Bouchard, whose autographed photos were reportedly being auctioned off at the tournament for around $900, double the amount people were bidding for Serena Williams’ memorabilia.
Since the start of the season, few things have been talked about more in women’s tennis than Bouchard’s marketability. Everyone has been likening her to Anna Kournikova and the WTA have made sure to position her as their new pin-up girl.
The fact that she’s the only player to reach the semis in all three Slams this season certainly hasn’t hurt either but it’s fair to say that even with less impressive results, Bouchard was always going to be a huge deal in 2014.
The WTA are in desperate need of exposure as they continue to fail to market a product that is quite an appealing one and it’s clear that, to them, Bouchard is the answer.
Reports have suggested that the WTA will actually fly out Bouchard’s fans to Singapore to support her should she qualify to the season-ending championships there.
They’re looking to fly out fans of one specific player at their own expense? It seems the WTA are pinning all their hopes on Bouchard but I worry how all this will affect her tennis, and how all that focus is making the WTA miss out on other marketing opportunities through other young up-and-coming players or older established ones.
Bouchard is clearly no Kournikova – as has been evident by her much better results – but all this attention and propaganda could ultimately have a negative effect.
Getting massive sponsorships from Nike and Coca Cola in just your second year on tour is hardly a bad thing but is Bouchard’s stardom growing too fast for her own good?
Also shouldn’t the WTA try and spread out the love a bit? They have someone like Li Na, who is the key to attracting a billion Chinese fans. How come we never heard of the WTA transporting Chinese fans to tournaments before?
For now, utilising Bouchard’s “x-factor” is working out for the WTA and has not hurt the Canadian but how sustainable is this plan?
SERENA HAS BEEN FAR FROM A FAILURE
Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou told L’Equipe this week that the only thing that would salvage the American’s 2014 season would be winning the US Open.
Williams has underperformed in majors this year (failing to make it past the fourth round in all three) but she still owns a WTA-leading four titles having rebounded from her mysterious illness, that saw her retire from her doubles match at Wimbledon, with a victory in Stanford last week.
In four of the last five seasons, Williams has won two grand slams per year, so not winning one in 2014 would definitely be an anomaly.
However she is still No1 in the world, has racked up 30 wins to just five losses and has the most titles on tour so far. She has a significant lead at the top of the rankings and with Li Na withdrawing from the US Open, could even get away with a less than perfect showing there and still stay at the summit.
So maybe putting too much pressure on herself is not the best of ideas right now. Even if she doesn’t win a slam this year, it would be hard to consider her season a poor one.
With Li Na out, Williams under pressure and Victoria Azarenka in sub-par form, it looks like Maria Sharapova is actually the favourite in New York or will we witness a first-time major champion?
We’ve had won in each of the past four seasons, will the streak continue? If yes, then maybe it’s Eugenie Bouchard’s time.
