After essentially coming out of nowhere and taking the WTA Tour by storm with one eye-popping performance after another during 2014, Eugenie Bouchard appeared to be on the verge of becoming one of the biggest stars in the game today. While much of that popularity has come from the young Canadian’s ability to not only recognize the situation she currently finds herself in but also for having the wherewithal to capitalize on this opportunity and turn herself into the social media sensation she has now become.

With that said, Bouchard’s on court performance more than warranted the hype surrounding her game and tennis fans everywhere could hardly wait to see what she would do for an encore presentation in 2015. Expectations were high and after reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, this despite playing nowhere near her best, it looked as though the twenty-one year old fan favourite was well on her way to enjoying yet another successful campaign on tour.  

Fast forward four short months to the present day and the player we all watched take her game to completely different level during last year’s four Grand Slam events, is simply nowhere to be found.  After falling in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to France's Kristina Mladenovic during her opening round match of the 2015 French Open, Bouchard has now lost eight of her last nine matches. That is no misprint and to make matters worse, the only player of note she has lost to was Spaniard Carla Suárez Navarro, who is currently ranked No. 8 in the world.

As ugly as yesterday’s performance and eventual outcome was, it was hardly a surprise to anyone who has watched the No. 6 seed play during her previous six tour stops and absolutely dreadful showing against Romania at the Fed Cup  back in mid-April. The player who would routinely impose her will against the vast majority of her opponents on the game’s biggest stage, has mysteriously disappeared and been replaced by one who seemingly has zero confidence in her ability to beat almost anyone in a best of three setting.

The one area in which “Genie” has never seemed to be lacking in during her stunning climb up the rankings was confidence and yet here we sit. While she did show signs of faltering during the latter stages of 2014, many felt much of that was due to some nagging injuries and simply being exhausted. Granted her play had slipped and the more talented ladies on tour were starting to take advantage of the shortcomings in her game but again, it all seemed to make sense.

That is until those same deficiencies continued to be exposed to start 2015 and this time around it was not only the better players on tour who were using it to their advantage. Add to that what appears to be Bouchard’s unwillingness to change her approach and not surprisingly, the losses continue to mount and in all honesty…this run of poor play could continue for quite some time.

There is no question that Eugenie Bouchard has proven to have both the talent and necessary mental makeup to compete among the very best players in the world and for the game’s biggest prize. After her unforgettable showing at Roland Garros last May and an even better performance at Wimbledon, the sky seemed to be the limit for the native of Westmount, Quebec.

Unfortunately, those performances led to all of us forgetting how young she still is and ignoring just how much she still has to learn…both on and off the court. It all should workout in the end but by the looks of it, this could take a little longer than most were anticipating.

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About the author
Rob Soria
Rob covers the ATP Tour and Toronto Blue Jays for VAVEL USA