Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard opens up on the 'hate' she received during her career 'for doing anything other than tennis'

Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard has hit out at those criticising her off-court antics, for which she has received plenty of backlash over the course of her career. 

Now 30, Bouchard emerged on the scene in 2014 when she reached the final of Wimbledon - the first Canadian-born Canadian to do so - where she would eventually lose to Petra Kvitova. 

That year, Bouchard would also record her tournament best finishes at each of the Australian Open (semi-final), French Open (semi-final) and US Open (fourth round), at one point reaching No 5 in the world. 

However she would never reach the same heights again, dropping away and proceeding to encounter more than her fair share of injury problems throughout her career. 

After dropping to No 524 in the world, Bouchard has become more active in the popular Pickleball tour, but still takes part in tennis competitions. 

While the modern game sees players like Emma Raducanu spend increasingly more time in front of cameras in sponsorship campaigns, Bouchard feels the same luxury was not regularly afforded to those of her generation. 

British No 1 Jack Draper admitted he loved to spend time in front of the camera in a recent interview with Vogue, which led a perhaps embittered Bouchard to say 'If I had said this 10 years ago I would have been crucified' on social media. 

Now, in an interview with The Times, she has opened up on the 'hate' she received for her activity on social media, having been part of a number of sponsorship campaigns and attended her fair share of A-list events during her career. 

'Back in the day, I could train six hours during the day before later posting on social media about being at the movies and I would get hate,' she said. 'It was like, well, social media isn't an exact representation of my day.

'It's great that the world has changed over the past ten years and now not only is it acceptable to do off-court things, it's actually encouraged. Back in the day, I felt like I was being shoved into a box, like you can't do anything besides tennis. I was like, tennis has given me opportunities to explore the fashion world, TV and all these other things. Why would I say no? We're talking about my life in its entirety here.

'I would get so much hate for doing anything other than tennis. It was a burden I would bear on my shoulders and it was really hard. At least it's more accepted now. Not that I was the only pioneer to do these things but I feel like I made it a little bit more normal.'

Bouchard noted that the transformation from a normal athlete to a global superstar brings with it its further pressures, and revealed that it is difficult to adapt to those demands. 

She added that she regrets allowing 'hate' and 'brainwashing' control her actions at times in her career, wishing she could have blocked out the criticisms she faced. 

'Also, I wouldn’t have taken things so personally and let the hate absorb into my brain. Brainwashing works and if you start hearing negative things about yourself over and over again, it’s hard not to believe it. I just wish I could have clocked that out more and not let it affect my confidence because it totally did affect how I thought about myself. It even affected how I played.'

Bouchard was seemingly the butt of a light-hearted joke from now-retired American tennis player Sam Querrey, who appeared to mock a recent Instagram post of the Canadian's. 

The 30-year-old had claimed that her 'sex appeal' is good for tennis before posting several revealing photographs and a video of herself on Instagram performing chores in her garden while wearing a green bikini, though the post led to mixed reviews. 

Querrey then took to the same platform to post a series of pictures reenacting the same shots, wearing a fluorescent pair of yellow swimming shorts.

He also humorously laid down against a rock, mimicking Bouchard's picture of herself on a sun lounger.

The American, who notably knocked Andy Murray out of Wimbledon in 2017 at the quarter-finals, captioned the post: 'How'd I do @geniebouchard?'

He added: '@si_swimsuit [Sports Illustrated Swimsuit] I await your call.'

But Bouchard responded to the picture writing: 'Let's do a joint photo shoot next time.'

The Canadian was in hysterics at the images, reposting the picture of Querrey copying her showering in her garden on her Instagram story, writing: 'Screaming, crying, throwing up.'

In a separate post, she wrote: 'Sam Querrey is my fav person on this planet!!!!!'