After Her Dramatic Descent, Can Eugenie Bouchard Return To Tennis’s Pinnacle?

Serena Williams aside, perhaps no tennis player generated as much interest and media buzz in 2015 as Eugenie Bouchard.

Bouchard waned before sputtering, posting a 7-4 record at the Grand Slams a year after going 19-4 and finishing as Wimbledon runner-up in 2014.

Most alarmingly, she suffered a concussion at the US Open after a fall in a darkened locker room, cutting short her season and igniting a legal battle between the Bouchard camp and the U.S.

“This year may be a lot easier for her than a year ago,” says Rennae Stubbs, a former world No.

Just when Eugenie Bouchard appeared to be getting her groove back, a concussion at the US Open ended her 2015 season.

“That’s the most important part right now is feeling healthy,” Bouchard said after her first win in Hobart earlier this week.

The pressure is most pressing the year after a big run, particularly in tennis where the 52-week ranking calendar means at an event a year later, you’re trying to equal or better your result from the year prior.

The year after “is a hard one,” says Sam Stosur, the surprise 2011 winner of the US Open.

Bouchard and Stosur were in very different places in their careers at the time of their respective results, but for Bouchard’s year to be a good one, she’ll have to shake off what ended up being a nasty year after a Cinderella one.