Interactive Forum: August 2014: Eugenie Bouchard: Coming Forward

[johnyandell]

Eugenie Bouchard: Coming Forward

In his interview in this month's issue of Tennisplayer (click here), Nick Saviano discusses, among many things, how Eugenie Bouchard's game is based on taking the ball early and coming forward. As it happens John Yandell had the chance to film her practicing just that at the age of 13 at Nick's Florida academy.

Does she look eager and completely natural--not to mention athletic? What about the beauty and technical simplicity of her approach and forehand volley? Share your thoughts!

[johnyandell]

Quicktime version

Eugenie Bouchard: Coming Forward

[gzhpcu]

Good player. The only point which I see is that she has a WTA forehand instead of an ATP forehand: the racket head does not keep to the right side of the body on the backswing.

[hockeyscout]

John Yandell, a question, when you saw Eugenie Bouchard at 12, did you think she'd be a Wimbledon finalist? What were your impressions? What did you like, or what did you think would hold her back over the long haul when you made your first gut assessment of her?

I got to say, the guy feeding her balls is a star. A rock star!

Right in the strike zone with perfect pace.

Absolutely stunning.

I wish I could feed balls so perfectly.

By the way, here is an interesting article Robert Lansdorp wrote on Bouchard on his blog:

I read this article on Paul Fein’s Tennis quotes.com and was a little taken back, to say the least. It was an article by a Mr. Sam Duvall, talking about his client Eugenie Bouchard. I agree Genie as he called her is a very attractive and cute girl and a pretty darn good tennis player. Eugenie should get rid of this agent as soon as she can. She does not need somebody like this in her camp. Silly if not stupid what Sam Duvall said. Comparing her to Maria Sharapova is dumb enough, but then to say that Genie will raise the bar?? What bar is he talking about? Lucky Lucies, with happy hour between 5 and 6. Mr. Duvall, maybe you forgot, Maria won Wimbledon, just a few months after turning SEVENTEEN. Genie Bouchard won JUNIOR Wimbledon at age 18. Maria got to the finals of Junior Wimbledon at age 14. Maria was No. 1 in the world at 18. And at 19 years of age she had TWO grand slams. Bouchard ranking is 19 in the world at the age of 20. I hope for Genies sake that she becomes no 1 in the world and wins grand slams. You, Mr. Duvall probably wont be around. Are you trying to fool the public with your dumb comments , or do you think companies are stupid enough to believe you. You just put so much unnecessary pressure on Genie with your comments. Genie get rid of SAM no SLAM. – Robert

[johnyandell]

I only saw her hit for a few minutes. She did that sequence for something I was doing with Nick Saviano. So I didn't really form an opinion about her pro prospects. One thing that was interesting though, her father was a subscriber to Tennisplayer and also had me make a login for Genie.

[johnyandell]

Got to love Robert.

[johnyandell]

Phil,

That's still a pretty compact backswing for a 13 year old kid.

[GeoffWilliams]

I'd like to see a coach off between the temper pedic Saviano, and the Sam-no-slam Landsdork.

[hockeyscout]

Phil,

That's still a pretty compact backswing for a 13 year old kid.

Really? You think? For a girl?

[stotty]

I have tried to teach the ATP to girls but with limited success. Girls tend to want to have their elbow low and wedged close to the body as they commence the backswing, especially as youngsters, which often makes it more likely (in my experience) the racket will then travel beyond the plane of the body. It's hard to reverse the trend once it starts. It's a girl thing. Getting them to elevate the elbows as they commence the backswing seems to help make some girls more compact. I've had some success with this.

Bouchard seems quite compact in the clip. I'd settle for that as a coach.

[tennis_chiro]

Nick's comments in the interview are terrific. Loved his take on "don't crush the dream", but you never know who is going to make it.

don

[johnyandell]

Scotty,

Dito! Her hand stays on her right side. Eventually we will get some footage of her current game and see if it's not more compact still.

[bobbyswift]

Nick is a great coach. But to me her forehand is a mess. Poor gravity drop very cramped and uncomfortable contact. The follow thru looks forced and uncomfortable. Really nothing thrills me.

[jeffreycounts]

Here is what I like about her forehand:

1. Left arm perfectly stretched across the body.

2. Contact point is well in front of her body.

3. Great drive of the ball. She isn't just "wiping" over, but getting good drive through the ball along with the necessary rotation of the arm and hand.

4. No quirks or starts and stops anywhere. Just a fluid motion from start to finish.

5. Head stays still through contact, with eyes focus on the contact point.

For the volley:

1. Head still on contact

2. Great drive and push through the ball here as well.

She hits every detail, in my opinion, of a perfect forehand approach. I think this girl is the real deal, both techncially and mentally. I agree that you can't compare her to Sharapova, but I, for one, am hugely impressed with this girl.

From this clip you can also see how focused and disciplined she is. It looks to me like the combination of great coaching and a talented/mentally tough girl.

[bobbyswift]

Her contact point is still incredibly cramped to this day. To me double bent or arm straight at contact is both accepted. How I am judging her forehand is that her shoulder is to adducted to her body. Novak would be a good contact point for her to imitate as he is bent at the elbow but his shoulder is away abducted from his core or lats. Hard to judge if contact is out in front from this angle.