Eugenie Bouchard wrung her hands at her post-match news conference. She rubbed her lower lip. She squeezed her left arm.
While her body language screamed discomfort on Tuesday, when the main topic of discussion was Bouchard's ongoing lawsuit against the US Open rather than her first-round loss, her words were measured. A year ago at Flushing Meadows, Bouchard got a concussion from a fall at the facility and withdrew before playing in the fourth round, and then missed most of the rest of the season. She filed suit against the US Tennis Association in US District Court in Brooklyn in October, and that case is still pending, putting the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up in the odd position of competing this week at an event whose organizers she is suing.
"If I sit down and think about it, yeah, it's definitely a strange situation. But it's something that's so far in the back of my mind. I don't think about it on a daily basis, at all. I have people, lawyers, working on that side of it," Bouchard said. "So it's really not something I think about much at all. Obviously, being here, it's crossed my mind. But besides that, I mean, it has nothing to do with my day-to-day life."
Her 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 exit against 72nd-ranked Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, a player who only once has been as far as the third round at a major tournament, was filled with 46 unforced errors by Bouchard, who also was treated for blisters on her feet.
"I didn't feel like, on the court, I was back to where I was," Bouchard said on Tuesday, meaning that her level of play wasn't at its peak at the start of 2016. "But physically, since the beginning of the year, I've been feeling good."
USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier said the organization would not comment on the "substance" of litigation.
"However, it is truly unfortunate that a year after her accident, Genie's focus is on matters other than playing to her best ability," Widmaier said, noting that Bouchard's lawyers asked for an extension of the case.
He said the USTA "has remained ready, willing and able to bring the litigation to a conclusion as expeditiously as is possible, whether through settlement discussions or a fully litigated process."