GUADALAJARA OPEN

October 18, 2022

Eugenie Bouchard

Press Conference

E. BOUCHARD/K. Day

7-5, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Your first 1000 win in a while. How are you feeling right now?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Happy. I'm just so happy to be back playing. At this city specifically, it's really a special tennis city. I'm grateful I got a wild card and happy I can live to see another day.

Q. How do you feel about receiving so much love from the fans, first time here in Mexico this year?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, I mean, like I said on court, I really feel the special support. They're really passionate about tennis. So I think I can speak on behalf of all players when I say that we love playing in front of people who appreciate what we do. The fans here definitely do. They're tennis fanatics and so it's really fun.

Q. On your time off court, I saw you were on television doing analysis about the matches. Right now that you are again playing, what do you prefer, the TV thing or being on court?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I much prefer playing tennis. It was great to do some different activities off court while I was out. Honestly, being on live TV kind of helped kind of fill that need for adrenaline that I was missing while playing tennis.

It replicated it a little bit. I made me challenge myself, push myself out of my comfort zone. I'd much rather be sweating on a court. I can always do that later in life. So I still want to play tennis for a few years.

Q. We know that you are a really hard fan of Roger Federer. How does it feel that little girls from Canada and other countries feel the same way when they look at you as you look Roger?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, I mean, the way I look at Roger, I don't know if it can be replicated by anyone. If there are kids that look up to me, I've always said this throughout my career: it's just an honor.

I remember being that little kid, looking up to players, wanting their autograph, watching them on TV. To be that person for someone else is just an honor. I appreciate the support. I hope I can inspire people to, yeah, get out, play tennis, play sports.

Q. We've been seeing you do some pizza parties. Are we going to be lucky enough to have a pizza party that you host?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: If I win the whole tournament, sure (laughter).

Yeah, I don't know how that started or what, but those are really fun. I try to make an effort to hang out in my fans sometimes because I just feel such support from them.

It's cool to normalize hanging out with fans. They're just normal people who look up to sports people or celebrities, things like that.

I just try to be relatable by spending time with them. It's fun. It's really fun for me. It's definitely going to be an annual thing. I know some people want it to be in other cities. We're going to try to make that work.

Right now I'm just trying to focus on my next match.

Q. After this victory, how confident do you feel for your next match?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I'm just taking it one match at a time. Every player in this draw is really good. I know I play a really tough opponent next round, so there's no guarantees. Tomorrow will be a new day. I just have to start from zero, try to play some good tennis.

The altitude here makes it a bit tricky. Sometimes you don't have a rhythm. I felt that way, especially in the first set. I just want to hopefully keep playing through it, gaining my rhythm, and playing better.

Q. Just looking ahead to facing Ostapenko, haven't faced her before, but you're familiar with her, she'll be familiar with you. What do you make up of the matchup between the two of you? At this stage with where your game is at and confidence-wise, how do you see it for yourself?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, I've played doubles with Jelena and then probably practiced with her a bunch. So I know she likes to just hit big, so I'm going to be ready for that.

In these conditions it can be hit or miss type of tennis. I want to be ready to sort of absorb her power, try to implement my game after that.

Yeah, I mean, I'm just kind of on my comeback still. I kind of want to take the rest of this year to set myself up for next year, get as many matches as I can. I'm still going to play a couple more weeks after this.

I'm really just enjoying it. I just want to do the best I can for whatever time I have left.

That sounded, like, really negative. You know what I mean (smiling).

Q. Just the way that you have been able to play at the end of the season, both Chennai, getting the win here, playing a few more, how much does this build momentum or anything in terms of where you are in your comeback? How are you feeling with getting just the matches?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, it's the most important thing for me, is getting the matches. I spent a lot of time training, first of all, in the gym. Then practicing on the court is literally nothing like playing real matches. Even practice matches are so different.

The stress and the tension of real matches affects your body in a different way. It affects you mentally. It gives me confidence.

I kind of didn't expect to feel this good so soon, honestly. I feel like my tennis has come back quicker than I expected. I'm just trying to improve every single week. I feel like I've kind of been doing that. That's just really the goal moving forward and trying to jump in the rankings to get back as high as I can as soon as I can.

Q. Next match versus Ostapenko, how do you feel about that?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, she's a great player. She hits a really big ball. I'm the underdog. I have nothing to lose. I want to kind of use that to my advantage, just be ready for her game and try to absorb her big shots, and then try to hit some of my own, try to play my aggressive game and play smart.

That altitude here is a little bit tricky. You have to have really good shot selection. I'll just keep trying to play as good tennis as I can.