Eugenie Bouchard's fondness for English lawns, which stretches back to her teenage years, couldn't save the former Wimbledon finalist in the opening round of Qualifying against Belgium's Greet Minnen.
Outside gold medal winners at the Chelsea Flower Show, the Wimbledon groundstaff and a handful of other tennis players, few have as deep a connection with manicured and pedicured London grass as this 29-year-old Canadian.
Two of her career highlights have come on this surface, including winning the Wimbledon girls' singles title in 2012 and an appearance in the ladies' singles final in 2014, when she was just 20 years old and when only Petra Kvitova could stop her from lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish.
Slide into a tournament car and it's only a short, comfortable ride from Centre Court at the All England Club to the Stadium Court at the Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre.
But in ranking terms, the distance between the two rectangles of lawn is substantial and Bouchard, who is now outside the world's top 200, was beaten 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 36 minutes by the No.13 seed, leaving her a long way from making a return to the main draw of The Championships.
While this was hardly a kind draw for Bouchard, there can be no doubt that losing in the first round of Qualifying is going to sting for someone who once played for the Wimbledon title.
Bouchard believes she is a different player and a different person from the 20-year-old who came within two sets of winning Wimbledon.
Much has happened since, including a shoulder operation that kept her away from tennis for almost 18 months across 2021 and 2022. Yet you still have to go back to 2019 for the last time that Bouchard played in the main draw.
But you suspect that Bouchard, for all the setbacks she has already endured and the frustrations she will possibly experience in months to come, will do all she can to be in the main draw next summer.
As she observed recently, she could "chill" if she wanted to but she's "a fighter". All being well, Bouchard's ranking will be high enough to gain direct acceptance. Otherwise, it will be Qualifying once more.
