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AEGON INTERNATIONAL EASTBOURNEJune 24, 2015Eugenie BouchardEASTBOURNE, ENGLAND B. BENCIC/E. Bouchard THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How serious is the injury? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I don't know at this point, but I was feeling it during the match. It just wasn't smart for me to take a risk, and, you know, potentially be out for a long time. It's something I want to kind of take care of right away. Q. What stage did it start? The first set was pretty competitive. EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, about during the first set, you know, I was serving at a much slower pace than even just yesterday, and I kept trying and trying. I mean, at the end it was hard for me to put a serve in just because I felt that pain a little bit. I thought it would be better to stop. Q. Did you feel it yesterday at all? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No, it's something ‑‑I mean, it's something I have had in the past, though. But it started today. Q. Any fears for Wimbledon at the moment? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I mean, I'm going to play no matter what, even if I'm on one leg (smiling). Yeah, I will take a few days off from serving and give it a little break and see how it goes. Q. Do you feel the fates have been against you? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: A little bit, but I think there are much worse things in life. It's been a rough time for me these past couple of months, for sure, with, you know, my tennis and all these changes and a couple of injuries here and there. I know it will turn around and things will start going my way soon. Q. Will you have more treatments today? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I will go see the doctors and physios again. Just rest a little bit today, tomorrow at least, and see how it feels on the weekend. You know, just kind of save myself for matches maybe. Q. (Indiscernible.) EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, they know I intend to play, so it's just about managing it to the best of my abilities because it is a Grand Slam. Q. What are your memories of last year? Obviously Wimbledon was a massive highlight. EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yes, I'm looking forward to going back to Wimbledon, of course. You know, it was the highlight of my career so far. Hopefully I can make more highlights like that, and, you know, I want to work towards, you know, achieving a final or winning a Grand Slam throughout my career. So that's always the goal. I'm not worried about defending one specific tournament. I just want to do it again anywhere. Q. Have you looked at it as an opportunity to revitalize your form, given how well you did last year? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I mean, I don't think walking to Wimbledon I will feel like magic powder sprinkled on me, although it does have that effect on people (smiling). But, you know, throughout this whole process I have just been focusing day by day and week by week, okay, I will try my best this week and see if it will happen. It's been a long slow process. I feel like I have been playing better recently, and I do love the grass and I love obviously the atmosphere at Wimbledon. I know I will enjoy it no matter what happens. Q. Obviously it's a bit soon to put it into context now, but yesterday's performance, does that give you a lot of confidence that you are beginning to find a way through with all these tweaks you are doing to your game? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: It does, yeah, and just to feel like myself a bit more on the court. I do take a match like yesterday as a solid step forward. So not looking at today, I feel like with a couple of good days' practice I will feel good for next week, hopefully. Q. What was the doctor's diagnosis? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I'm going to go back and see him after, but we just looked at it quickly. I'm going go back and talk to them more at length now. I just wanted to come talk to you guys. Q. Abdominal problem? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, yeah, in my abdominal. Q. Is that the sort of thing you can, even if you've got a bit of discomfort, you can strap it up and play? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yes, but, I mean, the serve is so important in tennis and I don't know. It's just something I didn't want to take a risk of, especially since I had a small issue with it earlier this year, as well, and had to take some time off after. Q. Anything that would stop you playing next week? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No. I'm going out there with one leg, like I said. Q. You could have aggravated it this week and missedWimbledon altogether? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Of course. Considering next week is such an important event, everyone prepares as best they can, so that's what I'm trying to do as well. Q. Everyone prefers winning to losing, but when you have had a run of bad results for the first time in many years, does it ever take away some of the fun of just hitting the ball? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: The past couple of months have been tough, and I have felt with everything, you know, I have had to deal with in terms of coaching changes and, you know, not playing well and all these things, for sure it's not as fun to go out on the court. But I have realized over that period that the most important thing is to enjoy the tennis and enjoy working hard and keep believing that I can get through it. I have been trying to focus more on that since I have performed less well, because at the end of the day that's why I play. Q. You talked a lot about feeling lost on court. Have you been able to put your finger on why you feel you're not you? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think something I realized maybe around Paris was that I think I was just thinking too much on the court. Tennis, you have to react so quickly and you don't have time to think. So for me, I was thinking about where I was going to hit, how I was going to hit. It just slowed me down so much, and I was hesitating. And my game is so instinctive and just naturally reacting without thinking and playing that that really kind of slowed me up a little bit. So I feel like that was a part of it, where I'm now just trying to go out on the court and tell myself, Just don't think. Q. Have you had sports psychology to help that side and make you get better with your frame of mind? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I haven't, but I have spoken with my team around me and, you know, we have talked about a lot of different things. I feel like I have begun to learn things on my own, which I think is a good thing, as well. I'm not saying I wouldn't ever use that in the future. I totally can. I feel like in the past month or so I have found kind of answers within, and, you know, I know how good I can play. I know what to do on a tennis court. It's just about bringing it out. Q. How do you block out these thoughts now, your thinking on court? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: That's the million‑dollar question (smiling). Q. Do you find that you get quite easily distracted? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No. I think I have good focus in general. You know, I feel like I did really well last year, as well. So maybe because I maybe was overthinking a little bit it took me off the main task at hand, but in general I think I'm good at that. Q. Has the last 18 months taught you about the value of momentum? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah. Well, in tennis and in life, as well. There are ups and downs. It's just important to take them as they come and keep your head up and, you know, understand that these are great problems to have, as well. Q. Do you feel your opponents are raising their game even more now when they are playing you now because you are a big name and etcetera? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I do feel that way. I feel like I'm in a completely different situation this year from last year. Last year I had nothing to lose and the players probably didn't know me as well. It was only upside. And this year I feel like the hunted where everyone is kind of gunning for me and I have a target on my back. It's the position I want to be in, because Serena has that every week of the year for the past 10‑plus years. I will ask her how she deals with it. But it's what I want to work towards. I want to be in this position and even in a better position. But it takes adaptation, I think, and getting used to and just being able to deal with that expectation and pressure. Q. You're going to get that a lot next week with press. They will ask the same question, how are you going to match last year. How are you going to deal with that constant speculation where actually you just want to be left alone to play? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, I have had that question the past couple of months, just always comparing to last year, and I don't want to feel bad this year because of a great thing I accomplished last year. If you think about it, it's crazy. Whether I defend points that specific week or if I make the final of the US Open, how is that different, you know? So I think because of the way the rankings work, people look at week to week when they compare years, but I just look at it as an opportunity to try and win a tournament, like I look at that every single week. At the end of the year I will look back and see how my year was, but I'm just going to forget about last year and just remember the nice memories. But it's Wimbledon 2015. I want to try to do whatever I can. Q. Reach the final again? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Or win it (smiling). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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