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BNP PARIBAS WTA FINALSOctober 20, 2014Eugenie BouchardSINGAPORE, SINGAPORE S. HALEP/E. Bouchard THE MOERATOR: Questions, please. Q. A lot of unforced errors today. Was that a tactic going in, to really go for your shots? Did it not work out as you intended? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Going for it is always my gamestyle. Today there was definitely a lack of consistency. You know, it's unfortunate. I think it's something you kind of get when you haven't played a competitive match since like Wuhan. I didn't feel match sharp. But I feel like I can build on this. I still have another match, even though I lost, so there is a positive. Q. You came in with a bit of tape on your upper leg. Just wondering if that was an issue at all tonight with respect to movement? EUGENIE BOUCHARD:  It wasn't an issue tonight. I think it's been an issue in terms of lack of practice the past week or two. Not sure how it feels now. Still adrenaline going. So see how it feels tomorrow. Q. Is there less disappointment when you know there is another match coming and you can put it right? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think it's just different. I think it's pretty weird. Usually we lose and we're ready to get out of the city and go to the next tournament. I have to practice tomorrow, so it's definitely a weird situation. But it's kind of like we have a few lives here this week. It's great to play three matches against top‑10 players in the world. You can't ask for anything better. Q. How were the nerves going out there as a rookie? You've had a week of buildup to it and a lot of promotion and this and that and you finally get to play. How were the nerves and how did you feel out there? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I was really excited. I felt like the entrance was huge and quite dramatic. I think it was great. Just felt like a party on the court. You know, we don't have that kind of, I don't know, atmosphere week in and week out, so I thought it was pretty fun on the court. I wasn't too nervous. I was more kind of excited and wanted to try to play some good tennis, which I didn't do. That was the disappointment. Q. Is this the first round robin style tournament you've played in your career ? Have there been others? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: The only thing I can remember is like junior Fed Cup type things where you play a certain number of countries no matter what. Yeah, it's like in the professionals it's the only one. It's just super weird for me to kind of get used to, because usually I would be on a flight tomorrow. But it's great to take in Singapore for a few days no matter what. Even when you lose, you can kind of build on something. Often when I lose I want to play right away again and kind of prove to myself I can do better. I have a chance to do that in two days, so we'll see. Q. It's just an hour since your match. Do you find yourself in a weird head space at the moment just because, like you said, you're not hopping on a plane, you have to come back and play another match? Mentally how weird is it for you right now? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think it's totally weird. Because my coach is like, Okay, what time to you want to practice tomorrow? Usually I take a day off after I lose. So that maybe makes you think less about the loss. I have to move on much quicker from it, which can be a good thing. So not really think about it too much, because you got to prepare for another match in two days. Maybe makes the results of the match a bit less important in your head or something to worry about less, which is always a good thing. Q. Do you now who you play next? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I don't. Do you? Q. No. EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Okay. Q. You have to start out of the gate playing Halep. Normally somebody you wouldn't play until quarters or something. What's it like getting thrown into that? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: That's another interesting part about this tournament.  First match playing No.4 in the world. It's not like you can ease into a tournament or anything like that. You've got to hit the ground running. But it's kind of a great experience to get so many kind of high‑quality matches back to back like this. For sure that's a tough opponent get right away. I couldn't really ease my way into this week. But I feel like it's a match that I can build on, kind of get some rust off today, and just try to be a bit better in the next match. Q. Before Montréal I think you were saying‑‑ or after Montréal you said that you hadn't gotten enough practice because you were taking some time off and maybe you went into that tournament knowing you were a bit rusty and underprepared. With this tournament, do you feel the same way because of the time off and also injury concerns as well? Is it less? More? Similar? Dissimilar? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think it's a little bit similar in terms of having a little injury issue and scaling back at practice. I feel like it's maybe less bad this time around because I did play more kind of in the past few weeks and still have been kind of in tournament mode type of thinking. Wimbledon I was really out of tennis for a couple weeks and then practiced again. But, yeah, it's kind of the cycle of playing a lot, taking time off, playing. And it's a bit unfortunate. I wish I could have played a bit more recently, but I was going to come here and give it my all no matter what. That's what I'm going to try to do. Q. You hit a career‑high ranking today, top 5. Did you have a second to acknowledge that today? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I didn't know about it actually until about an hour before the match. Someone told me, and I was like, Oh, my God. Really? This is so weird. Yeah, it's really cool. Doesn't feel super‑‑ not like there is anything to celebrate. I lost, so I was just like, Okay, I just want to keep moving forward. It's always a cool thing move up in the rankings, especially when you don't do anything in the week. It's just because someone loses points. But, whatever, I'll take it. Q. You seemed to struggle today against her first serve. She doesn't seem to have the most overpowering first serve, but you really struggled to win points off her first serve. What is it about the serve that caused difficulty for you tonight? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Two things: first, I think she can place it well. So just reaching, that makes it tougher for me. And also, I felt maybe like my reaction time was a bit slower than usual. So, you know, just about getting into that kind of match situation and point situation, which is different than just practicing normal returns. Being in a match, having to move quicker, hit the return, and recover. So it's all little things like that that just felt a bit off today in general. Q. What do you remember about last time you played Serena? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Cincinnati last year. I remember winning a set. (Laughter.) But I remember, you know, that she was‑‑ even if she was down at the beginning, she was still very confident and I still felt so much pressure from her. I felt that she was very kind of unpredictable in where she hit the ball, and hard to read as well. Those are qualities that a great player would have. So I'm going to be ready for that as well as obviously she has a great serve. But, you know, just the chance to play the greatest player every is the coolest thing in my head. Whenever I play her, I'll be excited. Q. Has it felt weird with this big year you've had that you've not played her yet? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think we were supposed to meet quite a few times and you guys asked me a lot about my potential Serena matchups. Those never happened. That's the way it is. For sure hopefully get to play her this week. Hopefully get on the court and play each other. I think it'll be great. Q. You were obviously ranked much lower against Serena last year. Does it feel like a completely different matchup this time around? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I'll still feel like the underdog. I think I'll have more confidence and belief in myself and just experience from this whole year playing against great players on big stages. Yeah, I'll have that belief in myself, and I'll hope to do a lot better than today. Q. Obviously you've gone through a lot of firsts this year. First semifinal at major, first final, and now the WTA Finals. How alien is this compared to playing the Wimbledon final? Does this feel like a completely different type of tournament to you? Is it weirder? Less weird? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: It's definitely‑‑ I mean, I've said weird a few times already today, but it's definitely a weird kind of situation. I think it's super cool how there are only eight players and how we're going to play most of the players that are walking around. We're going to end up playing them no matter what. It's kind of funny and unique and different. The way it's set up, I think it's really good for women's tennis, how it's a huge atmosphere, kind of like a party type of thing. Just, I don't know, kind of like end‑of‑the‑year final showdown. Last one standing. It seems really intense. Kind of this cool thing to be a part of. No matter what happens. I'll leave here with good memories. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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