‘Rafael Nadal inspires me’: Eugenie Bouchard


‘Rafael Nadal inspires me’: Eugenie Bouchard

Eugenie Bouchard

Eugenie Bouchard who is a two time Grand Slam Semi finalist and a one time Finalist ,in 2014, has a career best ranking of World no.5 achieved in the same year. Since then though her performances have not been that great and during the lockdown she saw her ranking plummet to World no.224. It was then that Eugenie Bouchard took inspiration from Rafael Nadal, and his never say die attitude and will to improve. Although Bouchard lost in the final of the  Abierto de Guadalajara, she saw her ranking finally moving north. Right now she is ranked World no. 116.    

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Bouchard on Nadal,  “If Rafa is still trying to improve then I certainly have a long way to keep going. I don’t think you ever really get there, but I feel like the work I’ve put in over the last year or so is finally coming to fruition a little bit.”

Eugenie Bouchard’s drop in performance and her loss of sponsorships 

Eugenie Bouchard
Eugenie Bouchard

Tall, blonde, athletic, Bouchard was initially thought to be the next Maria Sharapova. And initially she was doing well on the court too. But then her performances on the court deteriorated and she was dropped by major companies like Colgate (dental care), Aviva (insurance), and Usana (nutrition). Even Babolat, her racquet sponsor, had dropped her in 2017. 

Also, her contract with NIKE was not renewed by Nike in 2020. But her new apparel sponsor is New Balance, and her racquet sponsor is YONEX. Now that her performances are getting better again, slowly but surely the tennis player with a pulse on social media will see sponsors lining up outside her door again.

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Also Read: ‘Mexico is where it all began’: Stefanos Tsitsipas