Golden girl Eugenie Bouchard gets her 'butt kicked again'
Canadian's image frays even further after her first opening round defeat of her grand slam career
From corporate sports dream girl with a fondness for Justin Bieber to accusations of being a pouting prima donna, it’s been a long year for Eugenie Bouchard.
Blonde, athletic and oozing an unshakeable self-confidence, Bouchard was being touted as tennis’ natural heir to Maria Sharapova in 2014 when she swept to the semi-finals of the Australian and French Opens and a runner-up spot at Wimbledon.
But fast-forward to 2015 and with even grizzled coach Sam Sumyk admitting that the Canadian poster girl is a target for getting “her butt kicked”, the 21-year-old is facing a worrying crisis of her rock-solid self-belief.
On Tuesday, she suffered the first opening-round defeat of her young grand slam career, a dispiriting 6-4, 6-4 French Open exit at the hands of Kristina Mladenovic.
It was her eighth loss in her last nine outings and having failed to defend the windfall of points she earned by making the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year, Bouchard is looking at slipping out of the world top 10.
Her predicament will be even worse if she flops at Wimbledon where last year she was courted by media and public alike for her tales of being named in honour of Princess Eugenie, the grand-daughter of Queen Elizabeth.
At this point I had no expectations coming in [to the French Open]. I have no expectations for the foreseeable future
