Eugenie Bouchard made headlines a few times during her tennis career, and her most recent remark may explain why.
The Canadian got her big break as a teenager when she emerged to play amazing tennis very early in her career. A signature run at Wimbledon was key, but there were other factors that contributed to her popularity.
It grew explosively but waned after her career turned for the worse. Unfortunately, the Canadian would never hit her potential tennis-wise, but she was still one of the most popular personalities off the tennis court.
Bouchard topped lists of the most attractive tennis players from the earliest days of her career, and she’s well aware of it. She signed with IGM and notched a few endorsement deals, and her ‘sex appeal’ certainly proved crucial in securing those deals, as she disclosed in a recent interview with Valeria Lipovetsky.
“Tennis first of all is a great sport for that sex appeal side. I mean we’re wearing short skirts, we’re wearing tank tops. It’s fun to turn on the TV and watch that. Right away I was able to get great marketing deals off the court.”
“Being asked to be in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition a few times. Exploring that path was definitely on my to-do list, it’s definitely part of who I am because I think it’s great.”
Bouchard greatly benefitted from her bubbly personality, as she never really shut any opportunity down. She was a tennis player but never wanted to limit herself to exclusively tennis.
“Why keep myself in a box? Why not try to become bigger, or better, or transcend tennis, or explore other fields? Tennis is the only thing I know, but it can’t be the only thing I’ll ever do in my life.”
“So I found it very interesting to be in magazines or do fashion stuff and see that I really enjoyed these things as well.”
