NEW YORK — As Genie Bouchard sat addressing the media on Monday following her straight-sets loss to No. 12 Anastasija Sevastova, she noted that "all players go through slumps and there have been huge comebacks."
The 25-year-old Canadian is aiming for the latter.
"I can't wait to win a match, let me tell you, I'm sick of losing," she said following her first-round exit and 11th straight loss on the season. "My coach told me that we're kind of using the rest of this year as time to prepare for next year. I'm also still going to play tournaments this year but I'm going to try to really work physically; I think that's lacking a little bit right now. And just keep working on my game, add tools and start next year really strong."
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The match on Court 5 is a solid building block for next year; it served as a prime example of what Bouchard needs to work on and what the Montreal native can do right. While she struggled overall, racking up 27 unforced errors that include mishits and over-swings, she also battled back after trailing 4-0 and 3-1 in the first and second sets, respectively, to keep herself in the match.
"Whenever I lose there's always that disappointment but I know when I do more right things than wrong and after the bad start, I think I was doing the right things and I was close," Bouchard, who lost 3-6, 3-6, noted.
"She didn't miss one ball in the first four games. I think I was just trying to figure out the balance of playing consistently but also being aggressive. How aggressive to be or not is tricky for me to find that balance because she was getting a lot of balls back."
The two players, who previously faced off three times between 2016 and 2017, slugged it out with long-baseline rallies in front of a packed, standing-room-only crowd.
Bouchard won 26 points when at the baseline and 10 of 17 at the net while frustrating the higher seed at times. With a serve topping out in the low 100's, she struggled to win service games; Bouchard double-faulted four times, won only 58% of her first-serve points and lost 61% of the points on her second serve. Overall, the Canadian did break the Latvian twice but was only able to muster 15 winners to Sevastova's 23 and is taking the positives from the early exit.
"She's [11th] in the world and made semis here last year so I think it was a tough first round for me to get through, and I think I had some chances here and there, but I need a little bit more consistency and then I think I'll be right there," said the 119th-ranked Bouchard.
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A large crowd, which included a heavy Canadian contingent that sported red shirts, hats emblazoned with Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs logos and other paraphernalia tried to help push Bouchard through as chants of "Let's Go Genie" and "C'mon Genie" resonated around the venue. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.
"It was a New York crowd, some Canadians for sure," she noted. "I love the crowds here at the U.S. Open. They're very vocal and intense like New Yorkers are so it was fun. I really felt that support and I'm sad I couldn't win for them."