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ROLAND GARROSMay 26, 2014Eugenie BouchardPARIS, FRANCE E. BOUCHARD/S. Peer THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please. Q. How was the turnaround from playing in Nuremberg just a couple of days ago? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, it was tough, for sure. I flew right after the final and had one day of practice. But, you know, that's always a good problem to have. I feel like I'm playing well on the court, so I'm just trying to keep the flow going. Q. Was there much of an adjustment to make for here? Obviously with the weather today, maybe you couldn't tell. EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think, yeah, well, I think today it was actually a bit slower because of the conditions. In Nuremberg it was actually a bit hot on some of the days so it was a bit faster. I find the courts here are generally like fast clay courts, so I like them. It's fine for me. Q. What is your confidence level right now? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I'm confident. You know, usually always confident and believe in myself, and know whenever I walk on the court I always believe I can win the match. I think that's important. But yeah, you know, I'm just trying to take it one week at a time. Last week is last week. I have another tournament this week. That's all I'm focused on. Q. Everybody remembers you in Montreal for obviously the big run you had in Australia. And do you expect to have such another good run at this tournament? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Every single tournament I go to I try to do as well as I can. You know, every tournament is important. Obviously the Slams are big, but I always, you know, think it's important to try and get better and try and play as well as I can in every single tournament. Warm‑ups are not ‑‑they are still tournaments I want to do well at. Obviously at a Slam it's exciting. I'm just so happy to be here and to play. Yeah, I mean, I'm not looking further than my next round on Wednesday. Q. Looking back, do you think a lot about what happened in Australia or for you it's like the past and you don't really revisit that too much? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: For me, it's the past. I learned a lot during those two weeks. Gained some confidence, things like that. But besides that, you know, it was a few months ago and I'm just always looking forward and always just trying to get better every single day. Q. You have played a lot on the clay with Portugal and last week, in addition to the two big ones. How much do you think you have learnt in those four weeks of how to play on European clay and how much more confident do you feel on it now? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, it's probably the longest I have gone playing on the red clay. I didn't play as many tournaments last year. Definitely a little bit of a change. It's even different from the green clay in North America. I feel like I'm adjusting better. I feel like I'm moving on better on the red clay and staying a bit more patient when I need to. Although I always try to keep the general, you know, important things of my game, I try to keep the basics. I always try to be aggressive and things like that, which I think I did well today. But little adjustments are important on the clay. Q. I cannot ignore the Hello Kitty stuffed animal. Could you talk about the story behind that? And what is next to the Hello Kitty stuffed animal? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: This one? It's another one. Yeah. Just more like animals and, well, yeah, I guess it's a cat. It's an animal. Stuff I received after the match. These were actually from people from Japan, as well. One of the fans actually, I remember her from ‑‑ actually, she's from China, I remember her, so she always gives me little stuffed animals. It's nice to keep this tradition going. This one is personalized, as well (showing Hello Kitty with a name on it). Q. Did you get that one from Genie Army? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, I don't have a specific Genie Army, but if you consider all of my fans part of the Genie Army, then yes, it's from my fans. Q. You're always critical of yourself. What would you be critical of today, even though it was a fairly clear‑cut win? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah. Well, I think I played really well. I'm most of all happy with that. I think I can always improve, I can always improve on my serve and on my return. But, I mean, generally I think I did a good job. Especially with the rain delay it's always tough to go back out and keep the momentum and things like that. They can often switch in the other person's direction. So I'm happy that I really stayed focused and just a few little things, just always trying to improve everything, but nothing, you know, glaring today. Q. We have been talking about your fans. How hard is it for you as a 20‑year‑old to deal with that, to feel that huge increase of popularity over the last 12 months? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: It's fun, actually, you know, coming to tournaments and having fans just tell you that, Good luck, or they're proud of you or you've inspired them or their kid to play tennis. To me, it's the biggest honor. I think it's part of the job. And of course, you know, it can get too much at times, but I think I have done well in dealing with it and with off‑court requests and things like that, being able to say no once in a while and really picking what's worth my time. But, you know, I appreciate all of the support I get, and I'm always just happy to see any fans there. Q. So far it didn't bring more pressure to you? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No, I find it ‑‑I find it as motivation. You know, there is pressure from, you know, people, fans, or media or anything from outside of me, and I really just try not to focus on that. You know, I really just try to focus on what I want to do. And I have such high expectations for myself that I really only worry about that and what my kind of inner circle says. Besides that, I just find the fans, it's just fun. Q. For the last few weeks in Montreal in the sporting scene it was pretty much all of the Canadiens because of the playoffs, now they are in a bad spot, one game away from elimination. Did you follow a little bit hockey? But most importantly, do you feel like now it's time for you to get... EUGENIE BOUCHARD: To get the attention? Q. Well, I wouldn't phrase it like that, but if you do, yeah. EUGENIE BOUCHARD: (Smiling.) I vaguely follow, yes. I know that, yeah, they are not doing so well. But they have done well, you know, this year. At least they made playoffs. That's good, right? Q. Now is it your turn? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think, I mean, I'm not really worried about, you know, what they are talking about or things like that. I'm on a different continent and I'm focused on my job and if they talk about me that's great. But I'm really just focused on what I need to do. But of course, we have a big summer of tennis coming up, so I think it's going to be really exciting in Europe and in North America. Q. You accomplished a fair bit, but the one thing you hadn't done was win a tournament. There are a lot of tournaments ranked lower than you who have. Were you starting to wonder when it was going to come? Not just because of what other people might think, but just because of yourself, for you wanting to do it. Were you starting to wonder when it was going to happen? You're not playing that many small tournaments anymore, either. EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, it was definitely one of my goals and it will continue to be a goal to win titles, obviously. But, yeah, I feel like I got close a few times, asemifinal last year in Osaka. And I didn't worry about it too much, but I knew the time would come, and I kept confidence in myself. I think it's important to go play some lower tournaments to get more matches and that's what I did, I went to Portugal and did that. And, you know, I was hesitating about playing Germany and thinking about maybe just practicing, but I'm always one to play more matches and I worked really hard. You know, I had a successful week. I'm definitely proud of the way I turned things around. But, you know, winning a title in and of itself, sure, it's a great thing but I wasn't completely worried because, you know, I knew the time would come. Q. Did it make a difference that your coach arrived in time for the end of that week as opposed to the whole long stretch that you went through with him on the phone? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, he was, I mean, he was coming that day no matter what. If I was out we were going to go to Paris. So, you know, happily he came to Nuremberg, and, you know, I think he helps me a lot when he's with me. I was doing well, you know, before he got to Nuremberg, but for sure I think he always adds something. Q. The three losses you had going into Nuremberg were all to pretty good players.  Did you feel you really weren't playing well at all or did you feel it was a bit of bad luck to play three players that were that good at those events? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I feel like I have been playing well, and sometimes in the matches didn't quite translate from practice to the matches. I do look back and think, okay, I played two former Roland Garros champions on clay and No. 3 in the world, so I wasn't, you know, feeling horrible about myself or anything. So I was just trying to keep my head up and practice and work really hard. You know, in life and in tennis you always have ups and downs. If that's considered a down, well, I don't know, but I felt like I was right there, and I kept working hard and things turned around. Q. Could you talk a little bit more about the dilemma you had to playing Nuremberg? Did you decide at the last minute to stay in that tournament or it was more like if I need it I'm going to play it, but the first plan was not really to play it? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think the first plan was to play it, and then after a few early exits I thought I will focus on practicing and get to Paris early. But at the end with my team we always decided I'm always one to want to play more matches and I feel like I didn't get that many the past few weeks, so I felt like I'd go there. No matter what happens, practice well, hit with some girls, and play some matches. I really worked hard, and, you know, it was cold in Germany, it was tough, but I worked hard and it turned out well. Q. Did you kind of not want to play it and then your coach said, you know, trying to incite you, Oh, try to do it? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No, I was the one who wanted to play more. Q. He wanted you to go in Paris? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I mean, we just had a discussion about it. He was good either way. I think in the end he wanted me to play it, as well. Q. In talking about last week, calling your match against Shvedova last week, was that a really important win because of what you and Nick were talking about when you came off the court after the first set you weren't feeling physically great, you didn't feel you were playing particularly well. Yet you gut stabbed the win particular when you quite someway down in the second set. EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, he said it was an important win for me, and I agree with that. I wasn't playing my best but found a way. That's some of the great players they don't always play their best and they can find ways to win. It was definitely a mental battle, that one. Winning 6 and 6 is always so tough and it's just a few points here and there. So I was really proud that I stayed fighting and I stayed with her. And you know, she could come up with some really good shots and I kept my head up and kept trying. It was more of a mental battle, for sure. THE MODERATOR: Questions in French? Q. There is a question from the fans on Roland Garros.com. They are asking if you can speak French and can you speak French with a French accent? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Really? Well, I think I have a British type of accent or English, rather, because I don't speak French that often. I would speak French better when I was younger, but I'm losing it now a little. But I'm not speaking with an accent from Quebec, which I think is a good thing. Q. Can you speak with an accent from Quebec? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yes, I can, but I wouldn't want to do this now. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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