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BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 14, 2016

Eugenie Bouchard

Indian Wells, California

T. BACSINSZKY/E. Bouchard

6-2, 7-5, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you think all the stuff about the match two days ago somehow is a bit of a distraction from what happened today or a bit of a letdown?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: You mean from my previous match?

Q. Yeah.
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No, I don't think so. But, you know, you might not play well every day. I feel like I don't have that consistency to maybe expect to play well every match, and today I definitely played a bit less well.

Q. How do you feel with that very long timeout in the second set when she fell? It went on for over 10 minutes.
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, it was very long. The umpire side she had four different places, and technically each one could be its own timeout. Okay, we could be here half an hour.

It was unfortunate she fell. Yeah, those things happen. Yeah, I mean, definitely not any reason why I lost. She's a tough player to play. You know, she makes it frustrating for you out there. I definitely felt that.

Q. Speaking of falling, excuse me if I could ask, but what is the status on your legal case with the US Open?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: It's ongoing.

Q. No settlement as yet?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I mean, I'm not going to comment on it, but it's ongoing.

Q. How do you feel your game is at? You made a couple finals this year and, I mean, you go out early here, but just in terms of where you were at this time last year compared to where you are now.
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I definitely feel I have made strides this year. I have taken steps in the right direction. I feel better about my game. Whether the results come right away or not, I know I'm playing better and better.

I still have to be positive. It's a very long road back to the top, especially after being out a couple months from injuries. I mean, in all honesty, when I started the year I didn't expect to win a match till April. I had no idea what to expect. I'm doing better than I expected. Just gotta keep improving and keep going.

I played a tough opponent today. No reason to be depressed.

Q. The travel and everything, playing in Qatar and playing Malaysia, coming here, did that have any effect here?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, there are no excuses, but it's definitely a tough turnaround. I hopefully want two days off. I will negotiate with my coach.

Yeah, it's a good problem to have. I made finals so I can't complain. I have played a lot of tennis in the past two, three weeks. I'm excited to go home and take a couple days off.

Q. You had Thomas out first set and then you didn't have him back, and obviously in the third set you weren't playing too well. Did you think about having him out?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No, I didn't really think about it. I don't know why. Maybe because I had him out for so long the beginning of the second it was like enough for the match. We were almost like practicing out there. It was kind of weird.

Yeah, he was telling me I was hitting too much to her backhand. I definitely think I did that again in the third set too much.

But, you know, going to her forehand she would give me some slices that were hard to deal with, so sometimes I felt like I had no option, you know.

That's what you get when you face a good player.

Q. Last year one of the struggles was to find the right balance between training blocks and playing tournaments. How do you think you're doing this year with the new year and new setup and new team?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, when I started the year I wanted to play a lot of tournaments, to get a lot of matches, because I felt like, you know, I hadn't played a lot in the last couple of months in 2015 and all of 2015 in general. We realized I had a shortened offseason because of my injury, so we took like a month, you know, almost all of February, to kind of do more kind of offseason training.

It was a training block. I think that was a good decision. I feel like I played improved a lot of areas of my game. So now I have played a lot recently. I think I am doing the right thing. Just gotta keep going.

Q. You must be aware that last year here was the start of bad times for you.
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Thanks for the reminder.

Q. Does it make you kind of feel good that everything is almost a bonus now for the next few months?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: You know, I try not to think about points and last year, in general. I'm over, you know, analyzing all the horrible things that happened last year. I'm just looking forward to really taking it one week at a time, especially, like I said, since I started the year. I really had no expectations. I could not look forward to really anything.

One week at a time is really how I'm doing it. I feel like I have made good steps this year, like I said. I just want to train a little bit and get ready for a great tournament in Miami and keep going.

Q. Do you often have Wayne Gretzky in your stands watching your matches? What's your relationship?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Not often. It's an honor to have such a legend to support me. I'm so happy he came out again today. Him and his family are so supportive of me. Nice to have that.

Q. Do you ever talk about the psychology of sport with him? He's somebody that started out great and never seemed to waver. Does he have anything to offer in terms of, you know, just helping with the psychological part of sport?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah. Well, of course he's such a legend. I hit with his daughter yesterday a little bit and we were talking about tennis and hockey and everything. It's interesting to hear his words. I kind of just try to absorb every word he says and take it like it's coming from God almost, because in our country, that's what he is. (Smiling.)

But, yeah, just to hear him talk about his career a little bit is so interesting. It's a great friend to have.

Q. As a Canadian and a tennis player, would you take the grace of Gretzky on ice or Roger on the tennis court?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I don't know if I can pick one over the other because they are both, you know, so great in their own field.

I mean, I will take a bit of both. It's an unanswerable question.

Q. Sort of interesting to you to see how, as a lead athlete in their sports, both just play the game with such, I don't know, a flow and balance?
EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I look at Roger, who I can relate to a bit more on the court, you know, the way he's so fluid and relaxed almost when he plays is really amazing to see.

I think it's also important in an injury sense, because, you know, throughout his career, knock on wood, he's barely been injured.

I think it's due to partly his playing style. He's just so relaxed. I need to work on that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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