Sometimes a tennis talent comes along that is so apparent that the world stands up and takes notice. That next great tennis superstar is Eugenie Bouchard, a 20-year-old Canadian who is taking the tennis world, by storm with her aggressive on-court tactics, and dazzling array of weapons on the court.
Eugenie BouchardCourtesy of CBC
All About Genie
Eugenie or "Genie" Bouchard, was born in Montreal in 1994. She is the younger sister to Beatrice, her twin, by six minutes, and also has a younger brother and sister. She started playing tennis very young at age five and moved away to Florida at age 12 to train with former pro Nick Saviano, who still serves as her coach.
At 15 she returned to her native Montreal to continue training and eventually became one of the top junior players on the planet, winning the junior doubles title at Wimbledon in 2011 and the junior singles and doubles crown at Wimbledon the following year, making her the first Canadian ever, jumior or pro, to win a singles Grand Slam title.
Genie is known for her aggressive tactics on the courtCourtesy of Tennisworld
Genie's breakthrough began at the beginning of the 2013 season when she began qualifying for more main draws and making it through qualifying matches against higher-ranked opponents. She successfully made it out of the first round at the 2013 Wimbledon, made runs later in to bigger more difficult tournaments and challenged some top players. Genie made her first WTA finals appearance late in the season, and was awarded the WTA Newcomer of the Year Award at the end of the tour.
2014 has been the Year of Genie so far. She made a remarkable run at the Aussie Open, defeating former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the Quarterfinals (the second time she had defeated Ivanovic in her career) before falling to Li Na in the semis. She has since won her first WTA Tournament, the Nürnberger Versicherungscup, and just fell short in the Semis of the French Open against Maria Sharapova after edging out Carla Suarez-Navarro in the quarters. She captured the attention of the world most recently with her remarkable run at Wimbledon, where she marched through to the Finals before going down to two-time champion Petra Kvitova. The win catapulted her to No. 7 on the world rankings.
Even at a relatively young age and moderate success she already has companies scrambling to sign her and hordes of fans that cheer her on at every event known as "Genie's Army". They can usually be seen decked out in the red and white colours of her home country Canada's flag.
Genie poses for the camerasCourtesy of Listal
Getting To Know Canadian WTA Rising Star Eugenie Bouchard
Connect With Genie
Genie is a star off the court as well. She keeps all her social media channels up to date and posts pictures of herself and fellow tennis player, American Laura Robson out at parties and enjoying the life of young tennis stars. You can follow Genie on Twitter at @geniebouchard.
Have your say!
Do you think Genie is the next tennis superstar? Are you cheering for Genie? Will she win her first Grand Slam in the next year? Do you follow tennis? Let us know in the space below!
