Wimbledon 2015: Talking Points from Day 2

2014 Runners-up Eugenie Bouchard crashed out in the opening round on Tuesday

Eugenie Bouchard’s meltdown continues

Come the end of the Wimbledon ladies singles final in 2014, the sky appeared to be the limit for the 20-year-old Eugenie Bouchard. A fan friendly style based on power, what appeared to be the same competitive attitude that brought Maria Sharapova so much success and Disney princess esque beauty that left sponsors drooling in anticipation.

Even if she had been obliterated by a terminator like performance from Petra Kvitova, consecutive semi-final appearances in the two previous Majors indicated her star was set to burn brightly for the next decade.

12 months later and the Canadian was knocked out of the 1st round by Ying-Ying Duan, a player ranked 105 places below in the world rankings. It was the first time in 21 years that a woman who reached last year’s final was knocked out in their first match one year later. On paper, this would be a seismic upset but in truth this result was distressingly predictable.

2015 has so far been the year from hell for Bouchard. Questionable attitudes, injuries and on-court collapses have all added up to her losing 11 out of her last 13 matches. She’s only won 1/3 of her matches in the entire calendar year. For any unseeded player, Bouchard has the biggest bullseye on their chest of any player in the top 32 and at present she can’t survive their glare.

Yesterday’s match was yet another disaster for the Canadian. Amongst all the occasional brilliant hitting that we loved so much about the youngster, there were 10 double faults and some shocking unforced errors that complimented the Chinese’s high-risk game perfectly. When your opponent is shanking easy balls left and right, you do feel more confident to go for more low percentage second serves and winners.

Between points Bouchard resembled a frightened teenager on her first day at college wondering what in the world was happening to her previously sheltered existence. For someone who seemed to have such a stern attitude about her, she cut a surprisingly fragile figure. In her post match interview she revealed she was carrying an abdominal tear and was advised against playing by her doctors. Stubborn as always Bouchard refused.

Had she had a better year, would she have thought better of it? Has the competitiveness tipped her over the edge into being too insular? Is she pining for her old coach after switching to Sam Sumyk post the Australian Open? Has the media and sponsorship commitments taken her eye off her game.

Whilst the fall of Rafael Nadal to number 10 in the world has been difficult to watch, nothing has been as distressing to witness in the 2015 tennis season as the meltdown of Bouchard. This was meant to be the future of the women’s game. With her provisional world ranking dropping to 23 – which could get worse – the future definitely isn’t now.

Simona Halep becomes highest seed to crash out

While Bouchard’s meltdown has been well documented this year, Simona Halep’s quiet dip in form has slipped under the radar. A second-round loss at the French Open was trumped by a first round loss on Court No1 to world No106 Jana Cepelova in three sets.

Halep’s serve was compromised by a painful looking blister on her middle toe but this was nothing compared to the breakdown of her normally immaculate groundstroke game. With a poor serve and splaying groundstrokes, Cepelova took her chances to break back each Halep breakthrough on her own serve. Come crunch time in the third set, the Slovakian saved three break points whilst serving for the match to record the most important win of her career. So what’s the reason for Halep’s recent drop in fortunes?

The burning through of four different coaches in six months can’t have done the Romanian any favours and whilst she isn’t as photogenic as Bouchard, the sponsorships and media coverage have certainly increased in the 12 months since her world breakthrough last spring.

Halep’s game is certainly in a better place to improve compared to Bouchard’s high-risk style. But it might be pertinent for the pair of them to examine the early careers of women like Serena Williams or Petra Kvitova if they want to become more than one-year wonders.

Are we overlooking Rafael Nadal?

The relatively poor form of Rafael Nadal this year has made the prospect of another early round exit from Wimbledon seem almost expected rather than the shocking surprise it would normally be.

With the low bounce of early grass courts being slow, Nadal’s topspinning forehands normally land in a player’s hitting zone rather ballooning over their heads. It is why throughout his Wimbledon career, the Spaniard has always been susceptible to an early scare. Back in 2010, Nadal had to come from two sets to one down twice in the first three rounds before lifting the trophy. Then Lukas Rosol turned up and Nadal hasn’t reached a Wimbledon quarter-final since.

In yesterday’s match against Thomasz Bellucci, Nadal looked reasonably comfortable but still vulnerable to a more accomplished grass court specialist. The loss of David Ferrer from his section means the highest ranked player left to face him before the quarter finals is Victor Troicki whom he beat in the final of Stuttgart three weeks ago. Should Nadal get through the first week, the grass will get harder and will suit Nadal’s game that little bit more.

Nadal is the ultimate wildcard. We have no idea if Dustin Brown or Troicki can exploit the early fragility of Nadal on grass or whether the ultimate competitor has one more run left in him on the most famous of courts.