Eugenie Bouchard

[EagerBeaver]

The older players have dominated on the women's side in recent years. I think the younger players don't really learn the discipline necessary to be successful until they have been on tour for a while. The younger women like Bouchard are making extraordinary sums of money at a young age and enjoying clubs and shopping. It takes a while for them to become disciplined professionals. A few years ago there was a Chinese player who in her 30s jumped into the top 10 and won a major or two. She then suddenly retired. It's a difficult grind for these women as it takes a lot of hard work to become and remain a top pro.

On the men's side Wawrinka emerged as a top pro at age 30. He was a journeyman player for a long time but worked very hard on his game and became a top pro. He has even won a few majors. This is a trend now in tennis which at one time was dominated by young stars on both sides. It's all the money and the physical demands of the tour. Bouchard is like many other young players who flash potential but then battle these things, conditioning and injuries while also trying to enjoy life.

Regarding Wawrinka, he is a seriously fit man and uses his fitness to outlast opponents. Bjorn Borg was like this when he played. His fitness was better than anyone's and his legs were incredibly well defined. McEnroe once said he was the fittest player he ever saw.

 

[jalimon]

Got to agree with you. Beside Na Li, there was Penneta who won US major in 2015 only to retire, and Bartoli the year before!

Add Agassi to the list of ultra fit player who could outlast opponents.

Bouchard is said to be much more fit then last year.

Cheers,

 

[Doc Holliday]

Doc I heard Bouchard has a physical trainer full time this year. And she did spent many session with a Psy.

I know. I read an interview the other day where she said she spent some time in Las Vegas trying to put on weight in order to gain strenght for her tennis game, which i highly applaud. She had become way too frail over the past year or so and it showed in her game.

 

[TheDon]

Bouchard's post match on court interviews show what a major cock tease she is.

 

[tiga]

Genie lost in the third round at the Autralian Open.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Genie lost in the third round at the Autralian Open.

She lost to the 6'1" Coco Vandaweghe, the niece of former NY Knicks and UCLA basketball star Kiki Vandeweghe and the daughter of US Olympic swimmer Tauna Vanadweghe, who is one of the more powerful servers on tour and ranked #36 at the moment.

I don't know what all of your expectations are for Bouchard but I doubt she will be a top 10 player. She could hang around for a while and make a lot of money just like Anna Kournikova but as far as being a dominant tennis player I don't think it's going to happen.

 

[jalimon]

Youre most probably right EB.

I watched the game. The end was painful. It could have gone either way but Coco came back to break her at to make it 4 - 4 with advantage of service. Bouchard was not able to break that momentum even tho she had 4 chance to break Coco right after...

Ho well, maybe next time.

Cheers,

 

[Doc Holliday]

Until Genie Bouchard decides to make changes to her game, she'll continue being an average player. She has the talent to be a successful tennis player, but the problem is between the ears. Her serve is still average. She stays on the baseline 90% of the time. She rarely goes to the net. It's always the same shots, straight and safe. Rarely does she play the angles or make any drop shots. She's too predictable and word around the women's tennis world is that the key to beat her is to keep her as long as you can on the court since she'll eventually collapse.

Her last match could have been hers, but questionable decisions and a lack of focus in the final set's last few games led to her demise. Genie Bouchard needs consistency to be a successful player. Changing coaches every month or so won't help. And as i mentioned, she also needs to alter her game and make changes during a match and stop being such a predictable player to play against.

My guess is that she's not hungry enough to win. And why should she? She still has the Genie Army and legions of social media followers. She makes a lot of money with endorsements and was raised in a millionaire household. Her father is a millionaire hedge fund manager and her sibblings live off his money and spend their time travelling the world (where there are great beaches) year-long. Those kids have it made. This is likely why Genie Bouchard will never become a champion, although she had all the talent to succeed. But not the drive.

I'm still a fan of hers, but my patience is running out.

 

[Steely Dan]

My guess is that she's not hungry enough to win. And why should she? She still has the Genie Army and legions of social media followers. She makes a lot of money with endorsements and was raised in a millionaire household. Her father is a millionaire hedge fund manager and her sibblings live off his money and spend their time travelling the world (where there are great beaches) year-long. Those kids have it made. This is likely why Genie Bouchard will never become a champion, although she had all the talent to succeed. But not the drive.

I'm still a fan of hers, but my patience is running out.

Spot on Doc!:thumb:

 

[EagerBeaver]

I think her talent is a little below what you guys think. She has the talent to be a very good pro maybe top 20 but she is not gonna win any majors. Nor did Anna Kournikova. Kournikova when she first came up was a very good player but she rapidly got sidetracked. The reason the Williams girls both had such great success and longevity is that they did not have silver spoons in their mouths and their Daddy ass-whipped them into being tough champion players. Bouchard, like Kournikova, has been softened up by a coddling fan base and constant silver spoons shoved in her mouth.

 

[jalimon]

What's wrong with being a top 20 players most of your career? For a Canadian that would be spectacular. No canadian have yet reach what she did. So yes I really hope she will become a regular top 20, winning some smaller tournament here and there and maybe, maybe a big one one day. With her look and attitude, she will make more money then most player in front of her. But first, she has to reach top 20!

Cheers,

 

[Doc Holliday]

What's wrong with being a top 20 players most of your career?

She's not even a top 20 player. More like top 50. There's nothing 'wrong' with it, but would if her mindset were better she easily could be a top 15 player. I'm also not crazy about her entourage. They aren't exactly advising her correctly and changing coaches several times a year is proof of that.

I'd like to add that another problem with her 'game' is that it seems it's all about waiting for her opponent to make a mistake before she does. There's almost no strategy involved. Just hit the ball back at her opponent and hope she hits it into the net. No going for the angles, catch her off guard with lobs or drop shots. For her opponents, it's almost like playing with a practice partner whose only role is to give the player easily hittable serves and have the practice player hit balls right at you without getting you to work very hard to reach the balls. And i just don't get the 'strategy' of remaining at the base lines for most of her matches. Chris Evert she is not!!!

Finally, as i mentioned the main problem is that she's simply not hungry enough. This isn't her fault since she's had life handed to her on a silver platter for most of her life. She showed to be very athletic as a child and appeared to enjoy tennis. Her millionaire daddy then decided to try to make her dream come true by sending her as a child to one of the most prestigious tennis schools in the world. There's nothing wrong with this, but people who were raised in a life of luxury rarely find the hunger needed to be a champion in an individual sport.

 

[A12B]

Agree withe the Doc here. The problem also, I think is her size she needs to be able to hit hard like Serena Williams can. And yes, hitting corners at 90 degrees is where she need to practice a lot. Adding more meat or muscles on her should help. Entourage, like the Doc said is also a big deal in tennis. especially for ladies pros.

 

[EagerBeaver]

What's wrong with being a top 20 players most of your career? ,

There is nothing wrong with it, but that is her ceiling as a player, not her current status. She may or may not crack the top 20. As she gets older if she trains hard and gains a little toughness, she might.

 

[tiga]

Even if she did not go far in the tournament she is playing better than she was a year ago and seems to be in a better mindset. Her entourage (her mother) is not the healthiest, I wish Genie luck, I don't know how far she will go in her career. She is not the nicest or the best but she is cute and a local girl so I will keep an eye on her as long as she plays.

 

[Doc Holliday]

She is not the nicest or the best but she is cute and a local girl so I will keep an eye on her as long as she plays.

Same here. I've realized over time that it's easier for me to watch her matches if i'm expecting her to lose every time and to be aware that although she may seem to be dominating any given match at any given time, she could easily choke and lose the match as she's done many times in the past.

I so wish that she'd pay as much attention to her game as she does to social media.

 

[jalimon]

I so wish that she'd pay as much attention to her game as she does to social media.

We hear this comment often and for me this is bogus. Read Andre Agassi's biography (very good read by the way) you will learn about the loneliness of being on tour in tennis. You cannot train 16 hours per day. They have a LOT of spare time and it's a must that they find something to do other then thinking tennis. Hence for many the use of social media by young players. We focus a lot on Bouchard because she is a hottie, but other player are on it just as much.

Cheers,

 

[Lou Simone]

[QUOTE Doc Holliday: And i just don't get the 'strategy' of remaining at the base lines for most of her matches ,[/QUOTE]
That's, sadly or not, depending on your preferences, the modern tennis game. Far from exceptionnal to Bouchard. Likewise in men tennis.
I prefer a mix of it all, playing or watching.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Yes it is true, mostly baseliners. Back in the day guys like John McEnroe thrived with a serve and volley game, due to supreme placements of the serve and an ability to deftly and softly volley scorching returns. Nobody did that better than McEnroe. However, towards the end of McEnroe's era players became bigger, stronger, and fitter and guys who did not have McEnroe's talent, that played the same way, got overpowered. The beginning of this modern era of tennis was signalled when, down 2-0 to McEnroe in the 1984 French open final, Ivan Lendl rallied to win the final 3 sets and shock McEnroe, mostly using his superior fitness and power to win that match. Then Boris Becker came on the scene and later Pete Sampras. Sampras was a serve and volley player, a little different than McEnroe because he had a overpowering serve (McEnroe relied on placement) and he hit power volleys especially with his backhand. Roger Federer is the only modern player who assimilates all of these talents. Most of the rest of these guys are big hitters who play from the baseline.

On the women's side its more of the same, power baseline tennis. I used to think Martina Navratilova had great talent and hit a tremendous forehand from the baseline, but she could volley when she needed to. Serena has a two handed backhand that is great but also plays mostly from the baseline.

In terms of pure tennis talent, McEnroe was the best player I saw in my lifetime. There is nobody in the sport who plays like he did. You can't really get away playing like that with the big gorillas on the tour now, unless you have immense talent like McEnroe did, or some size and power.

 

[Lou Simone]

i know some amateur tennis players who have zero interest in learning anything else but baseline shots, they want to crush the ball, that's it. It's a fun feeling, I get it, but it is also great to be able to hit the ball at the net in a multitude of angles, being able to control your loops, etc. For many, if they never play doubles, they just never ever go to the net. As a player and spectator, I find it a sad evolution of the sport.