Fearless, marketable and a performer on the biggest stages, Genie Bouchard’s breakthrough season in 2014 naturally brought with it an amplified sense of expectations.
Her celebrity status skyrocketed and rivals soon gained a better grasp of her game. She was no longer the underdog.
It was a lot to juggle for the young Canadian and the dreaded sophomore slump ensued.
Having risen as high as world No.5 in 2014, the now 22-year-old makes her Brisbane International debut on Sunday, taking on American Shelby Rogers on Pat Rafter Arena.
Both prior meetings between the two have fallen in Rogers’ favour, although one of those came at a lowly ITF event back in 2011.
Now ranked No.46, Bouchard starts a slight favourite against the 59th-ranked American, who enjoyed her career-best season in 2016.
The 24-year-old Rogers reached her maiden grand slam quarterfinal at the French Open in May, taking down three seeds – including Pliskova and Kvitova – before falling to eventual champion Garbine Muguruza in straight sets.
Bouchard started the year strongly, reaching finals on hard courts in Hobart and Kuala Lumpur, but failed to reach a quarterfinal for the remainder of the season.
Two years ago, Karolina Pliskova pulled off the match of the tournament, saving two match points to upset Victoria Azarenka in the first round.
Then ranked No.23 in the world, the now 24-year-old is coming off her best season in which she reached her first grand slam final at the US Open and finished the year ranked No.6.
It was in New York where she finally sounded her grand slam intentions, having never previously passed the third round.
Pliskova ended then No.1 Serena Williams’ run in the semifinals before pushing new No.1 Angelique Kerber to three sets in the final.
It saw her qualify for the WTA Tour Finals for the first time before she and Barbora Strycova teamed to clinch the decisive doubles rubber against France to deliver the Czech Republic its fourth straight Fed Cup title.
Pliskova takes on fiesty Kazakh Yulia Putintseva on Pat Rafter Arena on Sunday. The Moscow-born 21-year-old reached her first grand slam quarterfinal at last year’s French Open where she pushed Serena Williams to three sets.
In a battle of the men’s wildcards, Australian Jordan Thompson will ride the home-country support against Swede Elias Ymer.
The 22-year-old from Sydney was handed the golden opportunity on the back of a season, which saw him almost halve his ranking from No.154 in the world to No.89.
Thompson represented Australia at the Rio Olympics Games and contested the four grand slams, where he made it to the second round of the French Open. It will be his first meeting with 20-year-old Ymer, a player ranked No.160.
Tickets to all sessions are on sale now via Ticketek.