Common Thread Among Bouchard Losses in Majors

[davidtennis123]

I think we are starting to see what could be a disturbing trend in Eugenie's major losses. First off, let me congratulate her on a great tournament. She is definitely rising to the top of the women's game. The problem for her, however, is that she cannot beat players who can match her power. Look at her last four majors:
2014 AO: loss to Li (two easy sets)
2014 FO: Loss to Sharapova (three sets)
2014 Wimbledon: Loss to Kvitova (two easy sets)

What do Kvitova, Li, and Sharapova have in common? They are all power players. Bouchard, in order to win a major, must learn how to deal with players who can match her power. It certainly seems to me that Eugenie does not have great defensive skills, and when she is not able to line-up and hit balls, she suffers greatly. Look back at all of her matches at these tournaments. She only played two matches in these three tournaments who could be classified as "power players": Ivanovic at the Aussie and Georges at the French. And what happened in both matches? She lost a set. And what happened when she played a top power player? She lost.

Bouchard is a rising star, but if she cannot learn how to deal with this type of player, she might not ever win a major.

 

[JustBob]

It's not disturbing, it's normal. Considering the physicality of modern tennis, you cannot expect a 20 y/o on her second year on tour to be as physically mature/strong as older players with years of strength and conditioning under their belt. Give her some time.

 

[Down_the_line]

Well thought out post with logic and reasoning? I can get on board with this.

This certainly seems like a trend, although I don't believe it will be a lasting trend throughout her career. Remember, this was only her 6th Grand Slam she's played in, period, and 1st final. Like Agassi, she'll figure out how to impose her will most of the time and not let those power players get the better of her. We've seen how adept she is at taking the ball on the rise, hitting aggressively, and moving her opponent around.

One of the ways she can put herself in this position more often against the stronger players is improving that serve. She's already more dangerous than most women on the return but her serve has to get stronger. It will get her through most matches but it was useless against Kvitova and as a result Kvitova was always on the offensive.

 

[Vrad]

To be fair to her she is young enough that she will get stronger. She is inexperienced enough that she will learn new ways to deal with such players.

 

[every7]

Power is not the most pressing shortfall in bouchard's game at the moment. She already has enough of it for the aggressive component of her game (except on serve?).

Bouchard needs some variety to go with her super aggressive game. Kvitova was red hot last night, and Bouchard just kept feeding her the same ball. She never put up any variety that may have caused kvitova to have to alter her hitting patterns.

When kvitova is seeing the ball like that, the harder you hit it at her, the harder it is going to come back. And with some scary lefty angles, too.

I feel like I am being pretty rough on Bouchard. And after saying what I have said, I think overall she had an amazing tournament, and was perfectly entitled to think her game would hold up in the final. She just ran into someone on fire and there was nothing anyone could do.

 

[moonballs]

I wonder if her back hand side defense is especially weak, because Kvitova is a lefty and Li Na has a powerful backhand.

 

[vernonbc]

Which other women's player has reached the semis of two slams and the final of another this year? I'd say at barely 20 years old, Genie has done just fine. She'll have plenty of time in the future to win some slams.

 

[Deleted member 77403]

Isn't this just her sixth grand slam appearance?

Being a little too hard on her. And she lost to the eventual winner everytime this year.