Eugenie Bouchard saw her career come to an end after losing in the second round of the Canadian Open to Belinda Bencic.
Bouchard has received a message from Nick Kyrgios after her final ever WTA match.
Many people were impressed by how the Canadian performed in her final tournament, leading to questions about whether Bouchard could reverse her retirement decision.
Bouchard has split opinion throughout her career, and now another WTA player has explained how she has changed the sport.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty ImagesJaimee Fourlis explains how Eugenie Bouchard has changed tennis
When discussing Bouchard’s legacy, former Australian Open mixed doubles finalist Jaimee Fourlis revealed that she has noticed young players with similar techniques to the Canadian.
Fourlis went on to suggest that Bouchard is ‘more influential’ than she gets credit for.
“I feel like on the ITF Tour at the moment, the next crop of girls who are coming up, you can definitely see they have watched Genie and idolised her,” Fourlis said on the Australian Open podcast. “A lot of these girls are starting to swing like her and play like her and hold [the] baseline.
“When you walk around the tour, especially at ITF events, you are like I know who your favourite player was when you were growing up.
“So I feel like there is a lot of those girls who are hugging [the] baseline, holding and pretty much have the exact same swings as Genie. I definitely think she was more influential than a lot of people have said.”
What is Eugenie Bouchard planning to do after retiring from tennis?
Bouchard has made fleeting appearances on the WTA Tour in recent years before her retirement, including making TV appearances and playing another sport, pickleball.
In her post-match press conference after her final match, Bouchard was asked about what her plans are now that she has officially stepped away from tennis.
Bouchard went on to reveal that she is open to many different opportunities and could maybe even step back into education.
“Maybe a vacation (laughing). I look forward to sleeping in tomorrow,” said Bouchard. “Yeah, I mean, I want to give myself the opportunity to have space and time to really reflect on what I want to do and have that time to be open to opportunities.
“I’ve always said I feel like I missed out because I didn’t go to college and didn’t go to school, so that could be an option as well. Diving into the TV stuff more is definitely something I enjoy, so that’s a probable next step. Yeah, I mean, are any of you guys hiring (laughing)?”