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.
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