Eugenie Bouchard is at a crossroads.
The world's No. 7 player who established herself as a force on the WTA last year, found herself out in the fourth round at Indian Wells after a third-set collapse against the world's No. 85 player, Lesia Tsurenko.
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Her 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4 loss to Tsurenko was disappointing enough, tennis.com reported, but the fact that Bouchard led 4-1 in the third, only to lose the last five games.
"I think I let emotions get the best of me," she said of her loss to Tsurenko, according to tennis.com. "I don't usually do that. I usually pride myself on not doing that. It's been a while since I felt that emotional in a match and after. It's a tough one to learn from, but that's what I have to do."
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Yahoo! Sports Canada reported that Bouchard cried before, during and after her match.
"The 21-year-old had physical issues, emotional issues and posted up perhaps the worst body language we've ever seen from her in a match since she joined the WTA Tour full-time," Yahoo! Sports Canada reported. "From beginning to end against qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, from serving for the match in the second set, to posting up a 4-1 lead with two breaks of serve in the third, to losing 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, it was a struggle.
"... We did get a few eyewitness reports that, earlier in the warmup, there were some tears."
Yahoo! Sports Canada revealed that Bouchard is suffering from an abdominal strain that could've contributed to her defeat. But her comments made it seem that her physical ailments weren't the problem in her loss.
"A lot of things just didn't go my way today in terms of everything," she said, according to Yahoo. "I felt heavy out there. Legs sluggish from the beginning of the match. I tried to get myself going, but it was kind of a struggle throughout the whole match. Yeah. I mean, I just, you know, didn't feel like I was myself at all in terms of how I was playing. She was, you know, very solid, very consistent. I was really struggling."
She hasn't reached a tournament final since Wimbledon last summer. Before 2015 started, she split with longtime coach Nick Saviano.
The match made clear that something is wrong with Bouchard. Her recovery could be closely monitored.
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