PARIS — The losses keep mounting for Eugenie Bouchard, who was so good last year and is having so much trouble nowadays.
Exiting in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her nascent career, No. 6 Bouchard became the highest-seeded player bounced from the French Open, losing 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday to 44th-ranked Kristina Mladenovic of France.
Bouchard has lost eight of her past nine matches.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to say. It’s been kind of the same as how I have been feeling recently on the court. Just not like myself,” the 21-year-old Canadian said. “I just feel like it’s been a while that this has been happening, and, you know, it’s unfortunate. But, you know, I’m sure one day it will stop.”
For a stretch of the second set Tuesday, Bouchard appeared ready to get herself back into the match.
She trailed 5-0 in that set, bouncing her racket twice off the clay at Court Suzanne Lenglen in a show of frustration, then won four straight games to make things more interesting.
But Mladenovic managed to serve out the victory.
“I felt I was in the match. But tennis-wise, I still knew I was far off from how well I can play,” Bouchard said. “But, you know, I was in there, and I just felt like I couldn’t be as relaxed as I wanted to on the court.”
As for whether this latest setback will linger in her mind for a while, Bouchard insisted she would get over it soon.
“I mean, definitely for a day or so, I’ll think about the match. But I think it’s important to try to move on quickly in tennis in general because every Monday there is a new chance,” she said. “So I’m going to try and forget this one.”
Thumbnail image via Twitter/@livetennis
