Karma: Eugenie Bouchard Refuses To Shake Dulgheru’s Hand, Then Loses To Her In Singles! [Video]

Eugenie Bouchard is experiencing a sophomore slum of ridiculous proportions.

She did the same thing last year at this stage of the Fed Cup (refusing to shake hands) but she won handily. Now she is adding inconsistent play to her lack of manners.

Someone – and it appears her invisible French coach is not the answer – needs to straighten her out because her game has vanished with Saviano.

If her play continues to deteriorate and she continues to lose in the first rounds of tournaments (she has now done that in 4 of 5 tournaments this year, her semi-final points at RG and her runner up points at Wimbledon will plummet her out of the top 20, where Nike and Coca-Cola does not expect their major sponsored athletes to be.

Soon we may hear the reason for Saviano refusing to coach Bouchard any more, a split they both said was “mutual” using words that only legal teams come up with.

Whatever is going on, something in between Bouchard’s ears is very much amiss.

For Canada’s sake let’s see how she does in today’s March against Romanian player Begu, who is ranked 33 in the world. Yesterday the 6th ranked Canadian, Francoise Abanda, ranked 260, beat Begu in a match no one expected her to win.

Today Bouchard plays Begu and Abanda battles with Dulgheru who spanked Bouchard yesterday. The stage is set for major drama, should Bouchard not be able to win.

April 19th, 2015 at 10:38 am

Sigh – sorry I didn’t proof before publishing.

First paragraph – slump not slum
Third paragraph – without not with Saviano.

April 19th, 2015 at 10:41 am

Gordon,

Agree with you on every point.

But dude, this isn’t the New York Times. An exceptionally well-articulated comment, with no grammatical errors, in fact makes people like me jealous :)

April 19th, 2015 at 11:40 am

Sorry but I belive there is a grammatical error in that comment.
Nike and Coca Cola ‘do’ not expect….instead of ‘does’
No insult intended.

April 19th, 2015 at 12:08 pm

gordon, i agree with you. that lack of a handshake was impolite and yes, something has gone badly amiss with genie’s game. i don’t get it.

April 19th, 2015 at 12:11 pm

I have another reason now not to like Eugenie and never will. There’s something strange about her, I felt it even last year when she was winning.

Look how Alexandra crossed her hands in defensive manner after the bitch surprised her with her rudeness.
But she showed a good sense of humour at the end. Way to go girl!

April 19th, 2015 at 12:54 pm

Level of excitement right now on a scale 1 to 10 is about a 10000000000

Genie, please continue the good work!

April 19th, 2015 at 1:05 pm

Bouchard, charmless kid with bad manners and lacking in wit.

April 19th, 2015 at 1:23 pm

Wilfried,

You sir should be an editor on Telegraph.co.uk !

April 19th, 2015 at 1:25 pm

Hard to say as a Canadian but I’m falling off the Bouchard wagon. Rude and classless behaviour. As Markus said, no charm either, but she can’t help that. No excuse for that BS.

April 19th, 2015 at 2:04 pm

Very rude who the hell does she think she is?….

April 19th, 2015 at 2:47 pm

Hey it’s against her belief system! She said she doesn’t ‘believe in wishing my opponent good luck’.
That’s a quirky, non-sensical, twisted belief …. but you’ve got to respect somebody’s belief. Haha !

April 19th, 2015 at 2:58 pm

@Patson, while we’re on the subject of editing – in your 11.40 post, you ought to have written “envious”, not “jealous”.

April 19th, 2015 at 3:48 pm

Here we are with the second defeat of Bouchard! It’s probably better when she does not play for Canada.

April 19th, 2015 at 5:11 pm

Where did Bouchard get the silly idea that shaking somebody’s hand means wishing him/her good luck? A handshake is an acknowledgement of the presence of another person, in a civilized world. On top of being rude, she’s also stupid.

April 19th, 2015 at 5:24 pm

Gregoire, thank you for that good news.

April 19th, 2015 at 5:39 pm

In what kind of house (environment) she grew up that she doesn’t know the meaning of handshake, her parents failed miserably in their basic (parents) duties. Shame on them, shame on her.

April 19th, 2015 at 6:10 pm

@Colin

Thanks. Although I always felt the distinction between the two, for all practical purposes, is weak. But being precise has never been my forte. So …. *shrug*

April 19th, 2015 at 6:36 pm

The Canadian Government helps sponsor a magazine and net services about “Canadian Etiquette” in both English and French speaking regions, that is supposed to help arrivals to Canada learn the “Canadian Way” for better business, employment, and social integration&success.

For pig-headed Genie:

===============
“There is a certain set of etiquette expectations that Canadians have in any professional or social setting, from how you shake hands to your basic manners.

First, shake hands firmly. This gives the impression that you are genuine and confident. Hold the handshake for one or two seconds and shake steadily from your elbow. However, avoid an overly powerful handshake; in other words, do not crush the other person’s hand in yours.

Making eye contact is an important, and often neglected, sign of mutual acknowledgement and respect. Also continue to make natural eye contact with others, without staring uncomfortably.”

================
Genie, please! Canadians are know for hockey and politeness to the point of going overboard into PC. You ain’t no hockey player, babe..
Remember in particular the Canadian position is the handshake and eye contact is a polite gesture of mutual acknowledgment and respect.

April 19th, 2015 at 7:43 pm

Maybe she’s germophobic!! Did anyone ever think of that?? :(

April 19th, 2015 at 8:24 pm

She couldn’t be, Okiegal, because she would shake hands after the match when theoretically, there should be more germs. She an obnoxious, brainless, tactless and everythingless kid.

April 19th, 2015 at 8:28 pm

@Markus……I was just trying to pull out all the stops and give her the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know why you refuse to shake hands. She’s making no fans, I will say that! You get the crowd on your case at a match, and that can be problematic. As my Mother used to say, if you make your bed you have to lie in it!!

April 19th, 2015 at 8:54 pm

Markus Says:

“Where did Bouchard get the silly idea that shaking somebody’s hand means wishing him/her good luck? A handshake is an acknowledgement of the presence of another person, in a civilized world. On top of being rude, she’s also stupid.”

Spot on! I was thinking the exact same thing. A handshake is not wishing good luck at all, in terms “I hope you win”. It’s a greeting gesture, like “hello, nice to meet you”.

She really is stupid for even thinking that, let alone saying it and acting on her false assumptions.

Many people liked her because she’s pretty and played reasonably well. I guess it got into her head that she’s more important than she actually is. This lack of manners is exactly the kind of thing that tennis people do not like in the least.

She’s being given a pass for this only because she’s pretty and Canadian. I’d like to see the reactions if some player from the “eastern front” so-to-speak did the same thing. It would cause an outright rebellion in the western hemisphere, and they would be stigmatised forever and never forgiven for it.

April 19th, 2015 at 9:44 pm

Well, I don’t know about outright rebellion.

I still like her tennis game.

April 19th, 2015 at 10:06 pm

Okiegal, I know you said that germophibia thing with tongue on cheek. I was just prolonging this discussion about Bouchard’s bad manners. Hahaha! I never liked that kid for multiple reasons, among them was when she said she doesn’t need friends or something to that effect. About the handshake, to make matters worse, I read somewhere that she admitted doing it for gamesmanship. If that girl is not completely clueless, I don’t know what is.

April 19th, 2015 at 10:18 pm

Maybe she should threaten some little lines judge woman that she’g going to stuff a tennis ball down her throat… then I would give a crap.
Her playing is terrible and that’s her main problem

“She’s being given a pass for this only because she’s pretty and Canadian.”
Yes Canada imposes respect and fear around the world like that, ROFLMAO!

April 19th, 2015 at 10:57 pm

I remember at the Aussie Open she had fans (guys) that gave her gifts….stuffed animals and such. They might choose to not follow her anymore….on second thought probably not, she’s one of the beautiful people. Will beauty override bad manners??

April 19th, 2015 at 11:48 pm

@Markus^^^^^ for you…..forgot to put it to you attention…..

April 19th, 2015 at 11:50 pm

Your attention…..oopsy

April 19th, 2015 at 11:51 pm

self-absorbed and icy.

April 20th, 2015 at 3:28 am

Jack – There’s a difference between losing your cool once at an incredibly poor call at an event that had previously apologized to you for biased calls (Capriati match), and Bouchard’s repeated
and unapologetic piggishness.

And what does Serena have to do with Bouchard’s poor sportmanship anyway? Serena at least shook Clijsters hand and apologized after her default. And apologized for the outburst.

April 20th, 2015 at 6:30 am

Spot on raj!

April 20th, 2015 at 8:43 am

@Okiegal:

I remember that Australian Open where a group of young studly men were cheering loudly for Bouchard and gave her gifts. Then, in the interview after her match, the announcer drew her attention to those men. She acted entitled and unenthusiastic and then when asked who she would pick out an a date, those boys started cheering wildly in anticipation for her answer. Then she said, “Justin Bieber” (and that was when Bieber was starting to act like a delinquent). Right there, I thought that this was one ungrateful girl, with neither charm nor sense of humor and slow in wit.

April 20th, 2015 at 9:11 am

@Markus….

I think Durango said it best with self absorbed and icy…..

April 20th, 2015 at 9:53 am

@Markus…..I remember the Beiber comment. I knew then and there she had a problem! Lol

April 20th, 2015 at 9:58 am

Hand shake is a fair play gesture in sports, especially in tennis.
This means you recognize your partner as your equal and by shaking his/her hand both agree on fair play and “let the best of us win”
You don’t wish your opponent “good luck” but shaking the hand, you show that you respect them.
Well, Genie for sure did not consider Alexandra as her equal but what made the gesture (or the lack of it) even worse is that Genie represented Canada, the host country. If only for this reason and she should have been more polite.
Canadians are well known of being very polite and what she did was not nice at all.
I always enjoyed watching her play and I will continue to enjoy (even though looks like she’s going to a very difficult time in her career) but this episode will come to my mind. Let’s just hope she learned her lesson.
Congratulation to Francoise Abanda. She played very well (and shake opponent hand as well  )

April 20th, 2015 at 10:38 am

Markus Says:
She couldn’t be, Okiegal, because she would shake hands after the match when theoretically, there should be more germs. She an obnoxious, brainless, tactless and everythingless kid.

——————–

As a Canadian (and a Montrealer which is where Genie is from), I’m not at all thrilled with her showing up her opponent in the way she did. Definitely not cool and someone needs to sit her down and give her the what up.

But, vilifying her as some kind of stupid tennis pariah isn’t a whole lot better. She made a mistake. A big one to be sure. And her opponent (ranked 104) beat her which I think is proportional punishment for acting like such a poor sport.

Serena physically threatened a linesperson. Michael Vick tortured helpless animals. Oscar Pistorius killed his girlfriend. The former running back for the Ravens knocked his GF out cold. Seems like there are things done by athletes that truly deserve our ire. How about a little bit of perspective in regards to this girl? Yeah…she screwed up. But she’s young and we’ve all done a thing our two in our youth that we’d like to go back and change.

April 20th, 2015 at 12:38 pm

And for what it’s worth a lot of the athletes I listed above we’re a lot older than Genie when they made their mistakes. Tiger had two beautiful kids and very beautiful wife but it didn’t stop him from acting like a total jack&%^^$.

I don’t know if Genie will ever be a great tennis player. I do however think that she will evolved into a more mature and grounded person. Being young and impetuous is understandable even if it’s not appealing to the eye.

April 20th, 2015 at 12:43 pm

raj Says:
Jack – There’s a difference between losing your cool once at an incredibly poor call at an event that had previously apologized to you for biased calls (Capriati match), and Bouchard’s repeated
and unapologetic piggishness.

And what does Serena have to do with Bouchard’s poor sportmanship anyway? Serena at least shook Clijsters hand and apologized after her default. And apologized for the outburst.

————————

These days, Serena is put on a pedestal. If we can all give her some latitude, Genie deserves the same.

You have very young and sheltered people thrust into the limelight with every act questioned and photographed. I don’t think any of us mortals would look or act perfectly under this kind of 24-7-365 media scrutiny.

Some players are better at than others. You’re never as bad as your worst day or as great as your best. I think this is true in sport….and life.

April 20th, 2015 at 12:51 pm

“Serena physically threatened a linesperson. Michael Vick tortured helpless animals. Oscar Pistorius killed his girlfriend. The former running back for the Ravens knocked his GF out cold.”
Putting Serena in this same paragraph is an outright travesty, SG1?? I hope you have a better context to explain….

April 20th, 2015 at 1:46 pm

They’re really making a mountain out of a mole hill here. It was stupid of her not to shake hands (this is tennis after all) but in the end who really cares? I’ll bet she wins a major before all of her contemporaries who’ve done better since Wimbledon of last year, and this will never be mentioned again.

Coincidentally, I think her attempt to psyche out her opponent is all part of the idiocracy of the importance of the mental game. She does this to intimidate her opponent, or as Chris Fowler loves to say, “Send a message,” but it doesn’t do you ANY good if you don’t have the game, so that’s what you ought to focus on if you want to make it – which she does, by the way, to her credit. But these mental machinations, and the emphasis on them, are a complete waste of time and effort.

I don’t think she’s getting a pass on this, by the way, it’s made a lot of headlines, and conveniently drawn attention away from how badly she’s playing. I guess it just goes to show you that there are still a lot of top women players making very regrettable decisions these days as far as sportsmanship is concerned.

April 20th, 2015 at 3:55 pm

“Serena physically threatened a linesperson. Michael Vick tortured helpless animals. Oscar Pistorius killed his girlfriend. The former running back for the Ravens knocked his GF out cold.”
Putting Serena in this same paragraph is an outright travesty, SG1?? I hope you have a better context to explain….

—————–

Merely picking examples of people who did things much worse than what Genie did. As I look at it now, flipping out at a linesperson obviously isn’t anywhere near the same circle of evil as what the others have done. A bad grouping on my part. My bad.

April 20th, 2015 at 6:22 pm

Of course, if you or I were to publically threaten the well being of another person, it’s quite likely we’d be at a police station somewhere. Serena’s fame (and deep pockets) precludes her from the treatment we’d get.

While Serena isn’t in the same club with the other scum bags I mentioned, there’s a lot of things she can’t be too proud of. Serena’s never been my cup of tea. Serena is a better tennis player than pretty much any woman to ever step on a court but in terms of class, she’s an amateur when compared Chris Evert, Kim Clijsters and many others.

April 20th, 2015 at 6:34 pm

What Serena said to the linesperson was way out of line and despicable. But she admitted later that what she did was not right and apologized. Since then, she appears to have learned her lesson and her behavior on and off court has been nothing short of exemplary.

We’ll see if Bouchard deserves leniency by how she comports herself from now on. But so far, I have seen nothing likable in her. Until she changes, she remains a tactless, slow-witted girl lacking in charm and good manners.

April 20th, 2015 at 7:14 pm

I guess she is into gamesmanship, to boost the brand? Intimidate the opponent before the big match. Trouble is she does not have the game to back up the brash talk. She also seems to be delusional about her game, coupled with a deep sense of entitlement. She is so busy projecting her ‘show no emotion’ game face, she is unable to draw on other emotions when things are tough. Genie is locked into the brand she imagined, but it there is little substance, as a personality and as a talent.
Silly girl.

April 20th, 2015 at 7:25 pm

@SG1
Thanks for clarifying, thought that you were better than that, and you are.
And in no way is it cool for anyone to threaten in that matter, so no excusing Serena. But she isn’t a murderer, or a convicted criminal. Big difference.

April 20th, 2015 at 8:24 pm

I think that Genie’s behavior is representative of the present state of her game. She’s still a little immature and unable to see the flaws in herself and by extension, within her game. I’m hoping this tempest in a teapot will make her a little bit more self aware. There are a lot of people within the tennis world that believed she was going to be a great player less than a year ago. Hard to believe that all the ability and talent have disappeared. Someone mentioned that the loss to Kvitova seems to have shaken her confidence to its core which seems to be true. A sports psychologist may be in order if she can’t get the ship righted in the upcoming months.

Don’t see her as slow witted as Markus seems to think. This statement is irrelevant and completely baseless. Bartoli won one major. Just one. And it was against Lisicki who essentially had no grand slam pedigree of any sort. Is Bartoli slow witted? I don’t think you can necessarily relate behavior or tennis results to intelligence.

April 20th, 2015 at 8:47 pm

@SG1: You said about my comment about Bouchard’s slow wit, “this statement is irrelevant and completely baseless.”

Why would it be irrelevant when that is my personal opinion of her, the same way that you would comment on other players and other posters expressing their opinions?

And I would never make a comment without any basis. You failed to read what I posted earlier as to why I started to think Bouchard did not have a quick wit, hence slow witted. Her subsequent interviews and behavior supported my opinion. It is my personal opinion but that is one of my bases. It may be contrary to yours but that does not make it baseless and irrelevant. Heck, that poor girl does not even know what a handshake means!

April 20th, 2015 at 9:19 pm

I don’t understand why would anyone try to defend, find excuse and , even worst, justify her behaviour, it is disrespectful, disgraceful and not acceptable in any sport or everyday life, nevertheless in tennis. She does that all the time, she did that against Slovakia and explained that it see “lame” (her words) to do handshake, even her colleagues from Canadian team sitting next to her at that presso felt uncomfortable with her statment, she hardly gives handshake after the match too (Andrea Petkovic match and more), there is a video about her luck of manners or deliberate disrespect of her oponents that I wanted to post, but after I read comments in that video about her I decided not to post it, they are very nasty comments.

April 20th, 2015 at 9:45 pm

Markus,

To judge someone’s level intelligence, you generally need to know them on more than a superficial level. Hard to judge someone’s intellect based on the fish bowl world that is pro tennis.

If anything, she lacks perspective and perhaps ultimately, the tennis skills required to win majors though this still is yet to be determined. Genie has done nothing that would indicate she lacks intelligence.

April 20th, 2015 at 9:48 pm

One more thing, I don’t remember one single person defending or justifying Berdych not doing handshake with Almagro, and rightfully so, I was filthy and Berdych was booed.
Her case is worst because it is not in the heat of the moment, it was premeditated and just shows her real herself.

April 20th, 2015 at 9:50 pm

Bad behavior is by no means an indication of lack of intelligence. I’ve never heard anyone challenge McEnroe’s intelligence. Yes, he’s conceited. Yes, he’s arrogant. But dumb? Definitely not.

April 20th, 2015 at 9:52 pm

WogBoy,

I’m not defending her. Just saying that you can’t judge someone’s intelligence by their behavior alone.

Her behavior was embarrassing and even though I’m a Canadian, I didn’t shed a tear over her losing as it was karma she brought onto herself.

April 20th, 2015 at 9:54 pm

SG1, I am OK with you, I wasn’t refering to “intelligence” comments, just generally about anybody trying to exuse or justify her behavior. It is just not on, as I said it not heat of the moment thing, it is something she adopted as a way o behavior, not a good way, in my young day even after the fist fight we use to give each other hand and go to pub to share a beer or too…not that I am suggesting she should do fistfighting with her oponents in order to do handshake;)

April 20th, 2015 at 10:04 pm

@SG1:

Bouchard may well turn out to have Bartoli level IQ but from what I seen and heard of her so far, she does not have quick wit and is prone to dumb action. Until she shows something other way to suggest some evidence of wit and intelligence, I will keep my opinion of her slow-wit.

…Heck, she does not even know what a handshake means.

April 20th, 2015 at 10:05 pm

^^a beer or “two”… not “too”

April 20th, 2015 at 10:06 pm

“other way” should have been “otherwise”.

By the way, I am not calling Bouchard, slow-witted based on her bad behavior. Surely, you’re smart enough to figure that out.

Another by the way: intelligence should not be equated with behavior. There are criminals and terrorists who have genius level IQs. That is one equation where you can apply the word “irrelevant”.

April 20th, 2015 at 10:17 pm

I can’t understand people trying to defend her? This is not her first time either, that’ what she is. Just a cold bitch.

April 20th, 2015 at 10:29 pm

Someone needs to explain the law of karma
to Ms Bouchard. In the game of tennis there will
be winners and losers as in the game of life.
Tis the later larger stage that Bouchard is showing to which category she falls.
Bouchard is demonstrating what kind of human being
she is.
My advice, which she won’t take of course, be
a good human being first.

April 21st, 2015 at 1:12 pm

With this handshake drama, I’m wondering why the Canadian Fed Cup captain is not getting some flak. This isn’t the first time Bouchard has done this and you’d think the captain would have told her to get on board and just shake her opponent’s hand to be polite.

April 21st, 2015 at 4:11 pm

RZ…great point. I think it’s because Genie is pretty much the poster child for Canadian Women’s Tennis so in this case, the tail wags the dog. But I agree with you and I’d even take it a step further. Tennis Canada should make it clear to Genie that we’d rather lose without her than win with her. I believe she needs a certain number of Fed Cup appearances to qualify for the Olympics so in reality, Tennis Canada does have a stick they could use to reign in this situation.

One other thing. This “not shaking hands” thing didn’t solely come out of the mind of a 21 year old. I believe that some of the entourage around her are giving her bad advice..JMO of course.

April 22nd, 2015 at 12:53 pm

Bouchard and Sloane are learning the hard way of “don’t try to get a head of yourself”…..feeling entitled by excellent performance in one season is wrong. I hope the new tennis kids on the block are watching and learning.
I used to like Sloane, until her bratty behaviour put me off. You can disrespect your elders no matter how wronged you feel.
I wish the parents or the elder people in the up and coming players would advice them accordingly.

April 26th, 2015 at 1:49 am

sorry…meant “can’t disrespect”

April 26th, 2015 at 1:51 am

I hope this nasty behavior of her help Bouchard to be a better tennis player, a better sportwoman, a better human being.
She deserved that celebration of her rival. is up to her to follow the path of greatness or, for the contrary, be another Kournikova. She still has time to change this bad sportmanship and concentratein her weaknesses and listen to the right people to guide her to be one of the best of her generation.
What is you decision, Miss Bouchard?

April 28th, 2015 at 3:55 am