By Alberto Amalfi | Wednesday, December 28, 2016
A return to elite status "is not a question of if it will happen, but when," says Genie Bouchard.
Photo credit: Billie Weiss/Connecticut Open
Genie Bouchard opens the 2017 in Brisbane with her sights set on a major revival.
The former world No. 5 says it’s merely a matter of time before she returns to the Top 10.
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“It (a return to the tennis elite) is not a question of if it will happen, but when,’’ Bouchard told The Courier Mail after arriving in Australia for next week’s Brisbane International. “I don’t know when—but if I work hard, good things will happen. “My ultimate goal is win a Grand Slam (title), but it’s baby steps.”
Three years ago, Bouchard took a major leap landing in the Australian Open and Roland Garros semifinals before bursting into the Wimbledon final.
Since reaching the quarterfinals of the 2015 Australian Open, Bouchard has failed to survive the second round in five of her last seven Grand Slam appearances.
The 46th-ranked Canadian hopes Australia serves as a springboard to a bounce-back season in 2017. Bouchard has reprised her partnership with coach Thomas Hogstedt after spending much of 2016 working with Nick Saviano.
“We are glad to be working together and there’s a lot of positive energy,” Bouchard told The Courier Mail. “We had a great time when we worked together at the start of 2016.’’
The 2016 season started with promise as Bouchard contested finals in Hobart and Kuala Lumpur. She upset then world No. 2 Angelique Kerber en route to the Rome round of 16 and scored back-to-back wins over former Grand Slam finalists Lucie Safarova and Dominika Cibulkova to reach the round of 16 in Montreal. But Bouchard managed just three main-draw wins the rest of the season.
Australia is an opportunity for the 22-year-old to redefine her future in a place where she’s recorded strong results in the past.
Bouchard believes she can work her way back to the Top 10 after finishing the last two years ranked in the mid 40s.
“The best advice ever given to me was that there is no way around the hard work that I have to put in,” Bouchard told The New Potato. “I can’t avoid it, and sooner or later you have to go through the hard things to get to where you want to be. Great things come to those who work hard.”