A dip in form for Eugenie Bouchard and Grigor Dimitrov

21-year-old Bouchard (L) of Canada, and 24-year-old Dimitrov of Bulgaria

Eugenie Bouchard:

For someone who shot to glory in 2014, it is difficult to even analyse how she could not perform well this season.

Eugenie Bouchard rose remarkably to the top 5 of the Women’s Singles rankings and this ascent was much talked about last season. She won a junior title at Wimbledon in 2012 and then was the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2013.

2014 came as a fantastic year for the Canadian, as she made it into the Australian Open and French Open semifinals. She also made the Wimbledon finals and delivered a strong performance at the fourth round of that year’s U.S Open. Amazingly, she had all these achievements under her belt when she was not yet 21.

Bouchard was labelled the ‘golden girl’ of tennis last year. During the Australian Open, Sam Duvall, Bouchard’s agent at the time, told The Age that she had the potential to be more marketable than Maria Sharapova, who was ranked as the “highest-paid female athlete on the planet” last year by Sports Illustrated, with an estimated $23.5 million U.S. in earnings, including $20 million in endorsements.

Enter 2015. Bouchard began the year on a decent note when she made it into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open this year. From 2014, she won 23 matches over the past five majors until the quarterfinal exit at the Australian Open. These were the most wins at the WTA, ahead of Sharapova, Serena Williams and Simona Halep.

All that being said, what went wrong with the Canadian star in 2015? Bouchard is 8-16 since her appearance in last year’s Wimbledon final. She lost Fed Cup matches to two Romanian players with rankings below No. 50, including a 4-6, 6-4 , 6-1 loss to world No. 104, Andree Mitu, who had just lost 6-2, 6-0 to Madison Keys in Charleston and had never defeated a player in the top 50.

Week after week, Bouchard’s steady arc has been shaken by a lot of turbulence. She has suffered several losses to players ranked far below her, including defeats at the qualifiers of the two biggest events of the spring. These were against 85th-ranked Lesia Tsurenko in Indian Wells, and 113th-ranked Tatjana Maria in Miami.

By the end of last season, Bouchard also split with long-time coach Nick Saviano, who had worked with her since she was 12. He was replaced by Sam Sumyk of France, the former coach of Victoria Azarenka. Sumyk had helped Azarenka win two Australian Opens (2012 and 2013) and reach the No. 1 world ranking.

Under Saviano, Bouchard had risen to the top-5 in the world rankings and was named the tour’s most improved player last year. When asked what went wrong with Bouchard, American tennis legend Chris Evert had this to say:

“It’s a multi-faceted question and answer,” said Evert, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her playing career. “I think that Nick Saviano was really good for her and I think he was a very positive influence. I don’t know what happened … I’m not privy to what happened there. But I think that probably has had an effect on her.”

Some critics and tennis analysts are of the opinion that Bouchard needs to focus more on her game rather than branding and endorsement. Whether it is a new coach or lost mental focus, Bouchard has only suffered six months of lackluster performance, and not a season or more. Given her prowess, it is likely the Canadian player will come back all guns blazing and regain her focus soon, something spectators will have to wait and see.

“I know it won’t all come overnight,” she said. “It’s not like as soon as you make a Slam final everything is easy after and you’re going to make the finals every week. It just doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to take the lows with the highs, so I’m just going to keep working hard and wait until this low turns into a high, and really try to learn in the process and be patient. I know I won’t win every tournament. I think patience is really important for me, because I’m not very patient.”

Grigor Dimitrov:

Often compared to Roger Federer for his promising game, Dimitrov was a star last season as he made it into the Wimbledon semifinals. Seeded 22nd at the 2014 Australian Open, Dimitrov had his best run at a Grand Slam event, defeating Bradley Klahn, Lu Yen-hsun, eleventh seed Milos Raonic and Roberto Bautista Agut in succession. This led him to his first ever major quarterfinal, where he lost to top seed and world number 1 Rafael Nadal in four sets, after winning the first and also having three set points to win the third.

As a result of this career-best run at a Grand Slam tournament, Dimitrov entered the world's top 20 for the first time (at No. 19), becoming the first ever Bulgarian male tennis player to do so. At the 2014 Wimbeldon Championships, he beat defending champion Andy Murray 3-0 in the quaterfinals before falling to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. He ended the last season with a tremendous improvement from 23rd to 11th in the ATP Rankings.

2015, however, has not been a great year so far for Dimitrov. He began with a semifinal exit at Brisbane where he lost against Roger Federer and then reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open this year where he lost to Andy Murray. At the 2015 French Open, he made a shocking first round exit, losing in straight sets to American Jack Sock despite being seeded 10th at the clay court Grand Slam.

The defeat against Sock is Dimitrov’s eighth loss against lower-ranked players so far this season. Some say racquet changes have caused his difficulties, while others opine that it has to do with him parting ways with girlfriend Maria Sharapova for the good of their individual careers.

Whatever be the cause, Dimitrov has the talent to succeed. Spectators and fans will hope to see him in form again soon.