2026-03-21 10:31:45

Eugenie Bouchard can understand the pressure Emma Raducanu is under to follow up on her 2021 US Open win.

The former tennis star was aged just 20 when she reached the Wimbledon final in 2014 – before retiring from the sport last year without ever reaching another Grand Slam showpiece – and knows there are parallels between her career and that of Raducanu, who was just 18 when she triumphed in New York.

Bouchard, 32, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “Tennis is interesting because you can peak so early.

“Some of my best years were honestly like (when I was) 19, 20, 21, which is crazy to think about with hindsight because I feel like I was young and dumb two years ago so imagine 10 years ago.”

The Canadian star added: “Having it (success) at the beginning of my career rather than the tail-end, made me feel this constant pressure every year all the time of, ‘Will she ever do what she did before?’

“Lots of players never do that in their careers, and the ones who do it consistently are the greats like Serena (Williams) or Novak (Djokovic).

“(People think), ‘When are you going to win another one? Now you’re going to win one a year for the next 10 years.’ And it just doesn’t work like that.”

Bouchard was never able to replicate her Wimbledon run and admits that a concussion suffered when she slipped on a cleaning substance at the US Open in 2015 was an unfortunate turning point for her career.

The former world number five recalled: “It was really unfortunate because I felt like I was getting my rhythm back, I was feeling good on court again and that’s when it happened.

“It was mentally hard to accept that because it felt like I finally gave myself a chance again and I got knocked back down.

“I felt effects from that for months afterwards and it affected me when I played, especially in more humid conditions, and I would feel the headaches come on again.

“I did a lot of physical therapy and even all these crazy things like eye-training therapy to go back to where I was or even better. Who knows if there are long-term effects, maybe, maybe not.”

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