Eugenie Bouchard suffered another early exit in a non-Grand Slam event falling to 21 year-old American Lauren Davis, 6-3, 6-1, in her first match at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. After poor showings in Indian Wells and Miami, Bouchard took a wildcard into the first clay court event of the season in hopes of turning her season around, but it's looking more like we are seeing a sophomore slump from the seventh-ranked Canadian. 

If you were even a casual tennis watcher last year, it was highly likely that you have heard the name Eugenie, or as she prefers, Genie Bouchard. Bouchard, who hails from just outside of Montreal, fit the stereotypical female tennis player that people love, hate, or love to hate. She is blonde, has her looks often talked about, and is seen by the media off the tennis court just as much she is on it. There are two women that fit this stereotype, one is world number two, Maria Sharapova, the other is retired Wimbledon semifinalist, Anna Kournikova. Sharapova is continuing to succeed even with all of her off-court ventures, but Kournikova did not fare so well on the courts. 

Last year was her breakthrough season starting off the year with a semifinals appearance at the Australian Open losing to the woman who would become champion, Li Na. Bouchard would win her first title in Nuremberg, which was a warmup tournament to the French. She would continue her success at Grand Slams becoming a semifinalist at the French Open, also losing to the woman who would become champion, Maria Sharapova. At Wimbledon, she would reach her maiden Grand Slam finals appearance before losing to Petra Kvitova in straight sets. The US Open was her worst showing getting knocked out in the fourth round losing to semifinalist, Ekaterina Makarova. With poor performances in smaller tournaments, Bouchard needed to perform well on the Asian swing to qualify for the WTA Year-End Championships and would do just that making the finals in inaugural Wuhan Open. She wound up having the worst showing of the women who qualified for the Year-End Championships in Singapore losing all three of her matches in convincing fashion. 

After deciding to play in the Hopman Cup exhibition rather than a legitimate warmup tournament, there were questions of how Bouchard would fare at the Australian Open. She fared slightly worse than 2014 losing to finalist Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals, but there were a couple of controversies that came along with her in the tournament. First of all, was Twirl-Gate when a male reporter asked her to twirl to the crowd so they could see her dress. She stated she hoped people would focus more on her tennis. The other controversy that came along was the picture that was taken as she shook hands after losing to Sharapova. Bouchard would have her hand out to Sharapova like most would do in the act of proper sportsmanship, but the picture showed that she did make eye contact with Sharapova and had a none-too-pleased look on her face. 

Recent results have not been too kind to Genie Bouchard either, she has lost in her first match in three of the last four tournaments she has played in (Antwerp, Miami, and Charleston). For all the media attention she gets, she has not been performing like someone who is ranked seventh in the world. After her early losses, she has been receiving tons of criticism, especially from fans of the game who think she's more focused on partying and her off-court image than her tennis. Bouchard has historically never fared well in events that are non-Grand Slams, but with another early loss, are we beginning to see signs of a sophomore slump? The answer is that we are likely just continuing to see her struggles to adapt to her new coach, Sam Sumyk, and her general struggles in these smaller tournaments. Once it comes major time, Bouchard will find her game and embark on another deep run to silence the critics. However if she gets knocked out early in the majors, Genie may need a genie to wish she performed better in these smaller tournaments.