MELBOURNE -- The Genie Army has suffered through many crushing defeats and a number of obstacles over the past year.
At last year's Australian Open, Eugenie Bouchard's loyal troops stood and cheered and sang in loud support. And why not? Bouchard, then 20 years old, was ranked No. 7 in the world and was coming off a season in which she reached the semifinals at three Grand Slams and became the first Canadian to play in the finals at Wimbledon. She also would soon be named the most marketable athlete in the world, male or female.
Bouchard reached the quarterfinals of that tournament before losing to Maria Sharapova. And then the rest of the 2015 campaign went south and her career went into retreat.
Following Melbourne, Bouchard won just eight more matches the rest of the season. Eight. She lost in the first round at the French Open. She lost in the first round at Wimbledon. She also lost every match she played in her native country.
She was playing well at the U.S. Open, though, and advanced to the fourth round. Then she suffered a concussion when she fell in a locker room. She had to withdraw from the event and played only one more match the rest of the year, which she lost. Her ranking fell to No. 37. (Bouchard has a lawsuit pending against the USTA after the locker room incident.)
"It hasn't been an easy year for Genie the past year. A lot of injuries and maybe the high expectations got to her a little bit," said Ryan Gibb, who was one of the dozen troops wearing Genie Army T-shirts during her second-round loss to Agnieszka Radwanska at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday. "But so far this year, she has had a good positive result in Shenzhen and made the finals in Hobart. Then Radwanska showed tonight why she's No. 4 and is quite a wall. The racket was on Genie and she couldn't always hit."
With her army chanting and singing in support, Bouchard gave Radwanska a stiff challenge early on. She took a 4-2 lead in the first set but followed with 10 unforced errors and lost the set 6-4. She made 18 more unforced errors while losing the second, set 6-2, and made 37 total unforced errors.
"I felt like I was in control [when up 4-2], but I let it slip away a little bit," Bouchard said. "Against a player like her, you can't ever back off or give her a chance."
Bouchard said she has no symptoms from the concussion and feels good, but that her heart rate was up due to the long rallies, humidity, pressure and emotions. Despite that and the loss, she enjoyed being out there.
"I'm just so happy and grateful to be back on tour after missing a couple months at the end of 2015," Bouchard said. "I realized how much I love and miss tennis. Even though I had a tough 2015, it's great to get back on the court. The injury made me appreciate how much I love my job."
Radwanska said Bouchard is definitely playing better than last season. "I think she's on the good way to come back, playing much better tennis. So I think in a couple months we are going to see her go deeper in the Grand Slams."
Whether Bouchard does recharge her career or stays where she is, the Army will be there.
"We're going to keep on supporting her," Gibb said. "We'll be back next year and see if we can help her. But we'll support her no matter what and hope she has a great 2016."