NEW YORK — Eugenie Bouchard slumped to a first-round defeat at the U.S. Open on Tuesday but the Canadian might yet leave Flushing Meadows a big winner with her lawsuit against the grand slam and United States Tennis Association still to hit the courts.
Last year Bouchard exited the tournament under equally unhappy circumstances when she slipped on a wet locker room floor after a mixed doubles match, sustaining a concussion that forced her to withdraw from her fourth-round singles contest.
The 22-year-old Canadian, once ranked fifth in the world, has since filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Open and the USTA.
According to a report in the New York Times, Bouchard’s lawyer, Benedict Morelli, has indicated he is seeking “millions and millions” in damages. The winner of the U.S. Open this year will take home $3.5 million.
Bouchard, however, says she is completely focused on what is happening on the tennis court and has left legal matters to her lawyers.
“I am 100 percent focused on tennis and I have lawyers who are working on the case and I don’t think about it often at all, maybe once a month when they call me,” Bouchard told reporters after her loss.
“I’m disappointed with what I think happened so I have to fight for what I think is right.”
This year, Bouchard had no one to blame but herself for her first-round stumble as she was tripped up 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 by 20-year-old Czech Katerina Siniakova, who registered a first ever win at the U.S. Open.
Despite the looming legal battle, Bouchard said she had been treated well by USTA officials but conceded that the situation was an awkward one.
“If I sit down and think about it, yeah, it is definitely a strange situation but something that is so far back in my mind I don’t think about it on a daily basis at all,” said Bouchard.
“Obviously being here it has crossed my mind but beside that, it has nothing to do with my day-to-day life.”
In 2014, Bouchard arrived at the year’s final grand slam on the cusp of tennis super stardom.
Having reached the final at Wimbledon and the last four at both the Australian and French Open, Bouchard rode a wave of grand slam momentum into the U.S. Open where she was seeded seventh and hyped as the next face of women’s tennis.
But even before her concussion last year, Bouchard’s star had already begun to fade behind a string of lackluster results that she claims was exasperated by the accident that caused her to cut short last season.
“It was very difficult for me,” Bouchard said. “I tried to come back and still had symptoms and probably tried to come back too soon because I love playing and I wanted to play.
“It (the accident) ended my year and I had a really rough couple of months.”
In an evening match, world number one Serena Williams opened her U.S. Open account with a tidy 6-3, 6-3 win over Ekaterina Makarova, to join her sister Venus in the second round of the year’s final grand slam.
Williams, whose status as world number one is under attack from several fronts, delivered a message that she will not be surrendering the top spot without a fight, needing just 63 minutes to dispatch the 29th-ranked Russian.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, who have both beaten Williams in slam finals this season, along with Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, will all be eyeing the number one ranking should the American’s bid for a 23rd grand slam title stall.
Williams has held the number one spot since Feb. 18, 2013 and will extend her streak to 186 consecutive weeks by the end of the U.S. Open fortnight, tying the WTA record currently held by Steffi Graf.
Back on Arthur Ashe Stadium court for the first time since an upset to Italy’s Roberta Vinci in last year’s U.S. Open semi-finals, Williams made quick work of Makarova to follow the lead of her sister Venus.
Sixth-seeded Venus had provided the opening act for sister Serena when she outlasted Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 before turning over the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to her top-seeded sibling.
In men’s action, two-time grand slam winner Stan Wawrinka dealt Fernando Verdasco a rare first-round loss, sweeping aside the Spaniard in straight sets.
The third-seeded Swiss dominated the left-handed Verdasco with his punishing groundstrokes and solid service game to claim a measure of revenge with a 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Verdasco, ranked 46th, had won 12 of his 13 previous first-round matches at Flushing Meadows.
Wawrinka, winner of last year’s French Open and the 2014 Australian Open, had trailed Verdasco 3-2 in head-to-head action after falling to him in straight sets in the first round this year at the Queen’s Club run-up to Wimbledon.
“I’m really happy. I think it was a great match, especially for the first round,” Wawrinka told reporters. “You never expect to play your best game and (be) full of confidence, but I think the level was quite high.”
Wawrinka hit seven winners off his one-hand backhand among his 30 total for the match, blasted in seven aces and turned away all four break points held by the Spaniard.
“Fernando is a tough player to play. He can be really aggressive. He don’t give you so much rhythm, so it’s not easy,” the Swiss said.
“I was really focused on myself. I was moving really well for first one. I’m getting some confidence from that match,” added Warwinka, who said he had spent more than a week in New York preparing for the tournament.
“In general, I’m really confident with my preparation, with the way I’m playing in practice court, the way I’m moving.”
Despite his close career record against Verdasco, Wawrinka has won both of their grand slam meetings.
“The last few years I have been way better tennis player in the court, especially on big events,” he said.