Many stumped by Eugenie Bouchard’s early season slump

Parting ways with long-time coach Nick Saviano after her sensational rise up the charts in 2014, Eugenie Bouchard has lost four of her six matches since starting work with Sam Sumyk in February following her quarter-final loss at the Australian Open.

Eugenie Bouchard has struggled to start the season, and there is no clear answer as to what the problem may be. Clive Brunskill / Getty Images

If Eugenie Bouchard was an Arabian Gulf League club, her coach would have been looking for a new job by now.

Parting ways with long-time coach Nick Saviano after her sensational rise up the charts in 2014, the world No 7 has lost four of her six matches since starting work with Sam Sumyk in February following her quarter-final loss at the Australian Open.

Worryingly, those losses have come against opponents ranked well below her.

After a first-round bye in Antwerp, she lost to No 42 Mona Barthel in Indian Wells.

She looked good in straight-sets wins over Lucie Hradecka and Coco Vandeweghe, but was then bounced out by world No 85 Lesia Tsurenko, committing 74 unforced errors.

At Miami, the Canadian was stunned 6-0, 7-6 by No 113 Tatjana Maria and, concerned about her lack of matches, she accepted a wild card and headed for Charleston, a tournament where she had an 8-2 record and mostly good memories, reaching the last eight and semi-finals in her past two appearances.

The trip, unfortunately, has only added to her woes.

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Looking lethargic on the green clay, the 21-year-old Canadian was knocked out 6-3, 6-1 by American Lauren Davis in the second round after a first-round bye.

Is this a sophomore slump after a staggering freshman 2014, when she made it to the last four at both the Australian and French Open before reaching the final at Wimbledon?

Or is Bouchard, like Sloane Stephens, sinking under the weight of expectation, unable to carry that thorny crown of the “Next Big Thing”?

From the outside, that would seem to be the case.

In truth, however, Bouchard’s 2015 is not very different from her 2014, not the first quarter at least.

Last year Bouchard lost in the first round at Sydney, but then reached the semis at the Australian Open, becoming an instant celebrity.

At the next tournament, in Doha, she was a first-round victim and then failed to qualify for the main draw in Dubai.

She reached the quarter-final in Acapulco, the fourth round at Indians Wells and lost her opening match in Miami.

This year she reached the last eight at the Australian Open, then lost in the first round at Antwerp, made the fourth round at Indian Wells and lost her opening match at Miami.

If you dig deeper into her 2014 results, there seems to be a big difference between the Bouchard who shows up at the grand slams and the one you see at other tournaments.

At the majors, she had a win-loss record of 19-4 in 2014.

Outside the four grand slams, and excluding the Fed Cup and tournament qualifying, that record was a disappointing 20-18.

At the WTA Finals in Singapore, she was drubbed in straight sets in all three of her matches, failing to win four games in any of those six sets.

In the other 17 main draw appearances on the WTA Tour, Bouchard lost her opening match at nine events, including her home tournament at Montreal.

She lost her opening matches in Madrid and Rome as well, but then made it to the semis at the French Open, losing in three sets to the eventual champion Maria Sharapova.

So perhaps it is too early to be alarmed about her one-and-done appearances in recent tournaments. When it comes to the majors, Bouchard does seem to turn it on.

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