"I've received death threats and things like that and have had some aggressive fans as well," Bouchard said. "Unjustified hate and unintelligent hate, that disappoints me. For example, I'll practice six hours in a day and then go to the movies at night. What do I post on social media? I'll post about the movies because to me that's the cool part of my day.
"I practice every single day and that's my job. Eighty percent of my day is about tennis, but I post about the 20 percent I do something different and it's like 'why aren't you practicing?'"
There's a lot of pressure still left on Bouchard's shoulders to get back to where she was in 2014, even though she says she's not reading about herself or dwelling on negative comments.
"It was the pressure and the expectations. The sudden fact that if I win it's normal, and if I lose it's a disaster," Bouchard said about her 2015 season. "I try not to read about myself and I don't, but sometimes I'm forced to come face-to-face with when I talk to reporters..."
Match play is her biggest priority, and she's finally getting it. After her first win in Sydney over Shuai Zhang, Bouchard admitted to feeling rusty and said she was looking forward to playing another match. She upset Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets next, and again repeated her eagerness to just get an extra match in.
"It's a good step, I don't want to get too happy after a win or too sad after a loss," Bouchard then said after winning her quarterfinal over Pavlyuchenkova. "For me it's just a right step in the right direction. I know there's a long way to go to achieve what I want."
