Eugenie Bouchard wrung her hands at her post-match news conference. She rubbed her lower lip. She squeezed her left arm.
While her body language on Tuesday screamed discomfort, when the main topic of discussion was Bouchard’s ongoing lawsuit against the US Open rather than her first-round loss, her words were measured.
The once rising star answered every question.
Photo: EPA
A year ago at Flushing Meadows, Bouchard got a concussion from a fall at the facility and withdrew before playing in the fourth round and then missed most of the rest of the season.
She filed suit against the US Tennis Association in the US District Court in Brooklyn in October last year, and that case is still pending, putting the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up in the odd position of competing this week at an event whose organizers she is suing.
“If I sit down and think about it, yeah, it’s definitely a strange situation, but it’s something that’s so far in the back of my mind,” Bouchard said. “I don’t think about it on a daily basis, at all. I have people, lawyers, working on that side of it, so it’s really not something I think about much at all,” she said. “Obviously, being here, it’s crossed my mind, but besides that, I mean, it has nothing to do with my day-to-day life.”
Her 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 exit against 72nd-ranked Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, a player who only once has been as far as the third round at a major tournament, was filled with 46 unforced errors by Bouchard, who also was treated for blisters on her feet.
It represented the latest early loss for the 22-year-old, who reached three Grand Slam semi-finals two years ago and none since.
In other first-round action on Day 2 at the year’s last Grand Slam, Serena Williams started her bid for a record-breaking 23rd major title by showing no signs of trouble from a right shoulder she has said was sore, hitting 12 aces in a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Ekaterina Makarova.
In other first-round games, Venus Williams won a tougher-than-expected match 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 against Kateryna Kozlova; Denisa Allertova defeated Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7/4), 6-1; and Simona Halep eliminated Kirsten Flipkens 6-0, 6-2.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB