1. Bouchard opens up about eating issues  

As her nightmare 2015 season continues to fade in the rearview mirror, Bouchard is becoming more comfortable talking about some of the problems she dealt with. 

“I felt a lot of pressure and kind of this expectation that, if you win a match it's normal and if you lose it's a disaster,” she explained. “Before matches I was very nervous and definitely had trouble eating. I just felt like it would come right back up. It is a difficulty I went through. And not just before matches, but [it] happened to me at other meals as well. I was just so stressed. I was burning calories even more than I normally would, so it was hard to kind of intake enough to keep my weight up or even gain weight, which was the goal, to become stronger.”

Bouchard said she never saw a dietician, but she did consult a sports physiologist to help her address the problem. 

“I feel like I learned from it,” Bouchard said. “I know now that even if I feel sick I have to force food down my throat. I feel like I've come out stronger and able to deal with that problem if it ever comes back.”

2. Closure on the Saviano-Bouchard split 

The French Open was the first Grand Slam in which Bouchard worked with coach Nick Saviano since the 2014 U.S. Open. The two split up at the end of that hugely successful year in a move that raised eyebrows around the tennis community. 

Reports suggested Saviano initiated the break-up and in an interview with TSN he hinted that he was unnerved by what was happening around Bouchard as she became a superstar on tour.  

“There were so many expectations and she was pulled in a lot of different directions,” he said. “I felt bad for her for a while there.”

As for Bouchard, she doesn't necessarily regret that she allowed the relationship to fray at the end of the 2014, because she now values Saviano's coaching in a different way. 

“I'm happy to be working with Nick again. You know, he's known me since I was 12 and we've always had a good relationship,” she said. “To work together again has been really refreshing for me. I think we both appreciate one another probably more having kind of a year and a half apart. I think he's the right coach for me.”

3. Bouchard needs to be patient 

In 2014, everything seemed so easy. The draw always worked out well. During the key moments, Bouchard was at her best. And while her 2016 campaign has been solid, certainly in comparison to 2015, she still has a ways to go before she can regain her top form. 

“When I restarted working with Nick [in April], we talked about a long-term plan. Of course immediate results would be great, but it's trying to improve over the long run to become the best player I can be. That's talking months, a year, or more. So I have to kind of keep that in my head, that that's the ultimate goal. But I know my game is there. If you can put it all together, immediate results are possible as well.”

Bouchard will play every week in the lead up to Wimbledon in the hopes of accelerating the process and giving her the best chance at her favourite slam. 

4. The head game

While Bouchard is stronger and fitter this season, the mental side of the game continues to be a work in progress. 

“I like to say tennis is 90 per cent mental. A lot of things in life are really mental. It's so important. I think it's my strength, but I feel like I haven't used that as much in the past year or so,” Bouchard said. “So I'm kind of on this path to try to get it to be my amazing strength again like it was in the past. The brain is like a muscle. You got to work it out. So that's what I been trying to do. Doesn't always work out on the match court, but slowly but surely hopefully it will.”

Bouchard jumped out to a 4-1 lead against Timea Bacsinszky on Thursday before allowing the No. 8 seed to win 10 straight games. It’s the type of lapse in concentration that simply can't happen on centre court at a Grand Slam. 

“I lost focus a little bit,” Bouchard admitted. “You know, her with her back a little bit against the wall she definitely raised her level. It's unacceptable really to lose 10 games in a row in a match. I think that my focus a little bit was the part that let me down, the mental part. Something I've been working on. I had been getting better, so it's not always going to be good.”

5. Bouchard is still developing as a tactician  

In 2014, Bouchard dominated at slams by playing her aggressive, take-the-ball-early style. When she was on, and she was on a lot, she was hard to beat. But when the initial game plan stops yielding success, Bouchard is still learning to adapt. 

“She was a bit more aggressive than I expected,” said Bouchard, who also lost to Bacsinszky in Indian Wells earlier this season. “What woke me up in that second set was I realized I needed to be that one stepping into the court more.”

Bacsinszky, meanwhile, adjusted early in the match. 

“She expected me to put a lot of variation in my game, so I had to find another game plan in order to get the upper hand,” the Switzerland native explained. “I was down 3-0, but I was not really concerned. Not worried. Because she was not head and shoulders above me. It was just a matter of adaptation. And when I managed to change my game plan, my tactics, my game intentions, things went differently. I got the upper hand slowly but surely."

6. Bouchard learning to tune out the critics 

As Bouchard slid down the rankings last year, the criticism of her grew louder and louder. It was hard to ignore. 

After her loss on Thursday, Bouchard was asked what advice she would give someone just starting out on tour. 

“For me it would be to not worry about what people say about you and not listen to all the noise around you. Just listen to your immediate circle, your team. Yeah, focus on that and trust you're going on the right path.”

Bouchard is active on social media and at times it's impossible to not see what people are saying. Asked about not having an agent right now, Bouchard noted it's not that difficult "because, contrary to popular belief, I do not do that much off-court stuff. I think I've done one photoshoot this entire year, so my priorities are in line and I spend my whole day thinking about tennis."

Bouchard also noted that there was some talk last year about how her weight loss may be tied to her modelling work.

"People think I was concerned about my body image and things like that and I was losing weight on purpose," Bouchard said. "That was really not the case."

It's clear some of the criticism hit a nerve. 

7. Bouchard is having fun again

Last year, Bouchard seemed tight. Smiles were forced. Comments in her interviews seemed rehearsed. This year, Bouchard's bubbly personality has returned. 

During a lull in the news conference following her first-round win, Bouchard decided to ask the reporters a question. 

"How about them Raps? Can we talk about that?"

Reporters laughed and nodded. Bouchard says her second favourite sport after tennis is basketball and she has been following the Toronto Raptors playoff run. 

"Well, I can't watch it live, which sucks, but as soon as I wake up it's like the first thing I Google every morning," she said. "I watched the three-minute highlights [of Toronto's Game 4 win] on the way to the courts this morning. The atmosphere seemed amazing over there. I don't know. Kyle Lowry showed up, so it was good. I don't know what's going to happen though. It will be very interesting to see, because Cleveland is undefeated at home, but the Raptors have this momentum. So it's exciting."

8. Bouchard isn't afraid to call herself out 

At one point last year, Bouchard had lost 15 of 18 matches. She was in a funk with no sign of relief. One loss, though, sparked a moment of truth. It was a 6-1, 6-0 defeat to Roberta Vinci at New Haven on the eve of the U.S. Open. 

"That kind of was a huge reality check. It was a slap in the face. I looked at myself in the mirror and I was like, 'Genie, what's going on? Let's go. I kind of got my s--t together in a way. I was just so disappointed in myself for having these average results. Very, very motivated. I worked very hard the week before the U.S. Open. I just told myself to get my act together and I worked really hard and stayed positive more than I had throughout the whole year and somehow managed a couple good wins."

Bouchard went on to make the fourth round of the U.S. Open before a dressing room fall led to a concussion and the end of her title hopes. 

But she learned about the power she has over herself

"It's small little things that can turn around a season. I was able to recognize it. A little late in the year, but I did it."

9. Don't be fooled by the second-round loss

Bouchard's low ranking right now means she doesn't get seeded at majors, so she's at the mercy of the draw. Bacsinszky made the semi-finals at last year's French Open and is a top-10 player so that's not an easy opponent to face in the second round. 

"My game actually feels good," Bouchard said. "My shots feel good. My movement feels good. So I think it hurts a bit more knowing I can play really well right now."

"She's starting to turn her game around," Saviano said, prior to the match against Bacsinszky. "I'm very pleased with the development over the last six weeks. Her game has really come along a great deal."

10. Bouchard enjoys the underdog role 

In 2014, Bouchard was the upstart. She was taking the tennis world by storm. Nobody was predicting long runs at majors and she just kept doing it. 

After the disaster that was 2015, Bouchard is once again an afterthought when it comes to discussing top contenders. She entered the French Open ranked 47th and that number likely won't change much based on her result at Roland Garros. 

"I feel no pressure," Bouchard said before the tournament. "I don't feel the weight of the world on my shoulders. I feel like no one really expects me to do anything. I don't expect specific results. I expect myself to perform and do the best I can, but besides that, it's kind of like, 'Let's go and see what I can do.'"