Introducing Eugenie Bouchard - A dozen curious facts about the rising tennis star

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard during her 4th round match against Casey Dellacqua

Eugenie “Genie” Bouchard is making waves and a parched WTA is happy getting drenched in a celebration wet with anticipation and promise. The 19-year-old Canadian showed immense resolve to survive a tough opening set loss to Casey Dellacqua as she carved her way into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. The tennis world has been unanimous in their praise for the bold and talented girl from Westmount in Quebec, but what has astounded experts is the tenacity and composure of the Canadian teenager. As she prepares for her maiden Grand Slam quarter-finals, due on Tuesday, here are 10 interesting facts about the emerging star.

1. Attitude: Eager to get on with it, Bouchard demanded action from the very moment she stepped on court. As a little girl, she was put in a kids tennis clinic on Nun’s Island when she was just five. The clinic would start with some fun and games, involving props such as hoola hoops and balloons just to get the kids involved. While her fellow kids enjoyed the routine, Genie was itching to get her racquet swinging at the tennis balls. “All of the kids, including my sister, loved the games, except me. I hated them, because I just wanted to hit more balls and actually play tennis,” Bouchard told the Globe and Mail last year. “My parents were like, ‘Oh, she really wants to play tennis!’ So eventually, I started playing three times a week, then took private lessons and played my first tournament when I was eight. I loved it right away.”

2. Wimbledon Champion, already: Genie got her first real taste of big stage success as a junior. Still only 17, she had a brilliantly memorable fortnight at Wimbledon in 2012 where she ended up with a double – winning both the girls singles and doubles titles. Seeded five, she defeated the third seed Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the title. In doing so, she became the first Canadian ever, junior or professional, to win a Grand Slam title in singles. Incidentally she also won the doubles title for the second year running, partnering the American Taylor Townsend (another American Grace Min was her partner in 2011), after beating Belinda Bencic and Ana Konjuh 6–4, 6–3 in the final. She has already dreamt about the real deal and wishes to go on and capture the Ladies title at the coveted tournament.

3. Highest ranked teenager: In a game that has turned ever more physical since the turn of the millenium, it is unsurprising yet curious to note that Eugenie is among just a few teenage players among the elite of the WTA. Not too long ago, a certain Martina Hingis had already collected five Grand Slam titles by the time she was done being a teenager. Times have changed and now there are only seven of their tribe in the top 100 of women’s tennis. The Canadian is currently the highest ranked teenager at 31st in the world and set to scale higher peaks on the strength of her performances at the Australian Open.

4. Her family: The Bouchard family made home in an upscale Montreal suburb, with the former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney living on the same street. Her parents Julie and Mike had each of their four kids dabble in tennis, but it was Eugenie who took an active interest in the sport. The 19-year-old has a fraternal twin, Beatrice, and two younger siblings – sister Charlotte and a brother called William. The family moved to Florida for a few years to help Eugenie train with Nick Saviano, but moved back to Montreal once Tennis Canada assigned an exclusive trainer, Roberto Brogin, to the promising young woman. Her father Mike is an investment banker, but he will be hard pressed to find a better investment than the one he has made in his talented daughter.

5. Her best friend: She considers fellow player Laura Robson among the best of her friends. The two of them have known each other for nearly 10 years and share a special bond. In fact, Eugenie wished that she made no more friends on the tour since it was emotionally hard to deal with a victory over Robson last year. The two go out for dinner almost every night when they are at the same tournament and apparently have a very strong friendship. The player and her mother lived at Robson’s home last year when they were out there to play Wimbledon.

6. And a video that went viral: Eugenie and Laura produced a video featuring tennis players, Maria Sharapova among them, performing the Gangnam style dance moves while on their travels worldwide. The video went viral and has garnered nearly half a million views since being uploaded last year. Here is the video, in case it awakens your curiosity:

7. Prize Scalps: Over the past year, Bouchard has earned many opportunities to mix it up with the big stars of the game. And the results have been far from disappointing. In fact, she was among just a few players who managed to take a set off Serena Williams during her domineering run last season. After stretching Serena the distance at the Western & Southern Open, Eugenie went on to mete out similar treatment to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open. Before she could test the elder Williams though, Bouchard had to come through Sloane Stephens and Jelena Jankovic in three and two sets respectively. But her most notable scalp last year was Ana Ivanovic, who she trounced 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of Wimbledon. She already has four top 20 wins and more seem certain to follow.

8. The decision to turn professional: While there was little doubt about the potential of Eugenie, she had other interests – football and basketball among them. But it was tennis that the little girl was completely hooked to. Her first competitive victory at the age of eight and her subsequent travel to Paris a year later cemented her desire to pursue a career traveling around the world for the game of tennis.

Canadian Tennis Player Eugenie Bouchard competes in The 2nd Annual Raonic Race For Kids Fundraiser Benefitting The Milos Raonic Foundation on November 19, 2013 in Toronto, Canada.

9. Expert’s pick: The who’s who of tennis including people such as Darren Cahill believe that Bouchard has the tools and technique needed for success at the highest levels. The legendary Martina Navratilova went a step further – “she has a technically sound game and she constructs points well,” told Navratilova to Wimbledon.com immediately after the upset of Ivanovic last year. “If she continues like this she will be top 20 at least by the end of the year. I don’t want to say a star is born but we have seen a potential Grand Slam champion here.”

10. Idols: Bouchard idolises Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer for their style and skills. Outside of tennis, the Canadian is all admiration for the rags to riches story of Justin Bieber, whose self made life inspires Eugenie in the pursuit of her own dreams.

11. Putting Canada back on the map: In reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, Bouchard became the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Patricia Hy-Boulais got through to the last eight at the 1992 US Open. Eugenie now has the opportunity to upstage Carling Bassett-Seguso at the 1984 US Open (falling to Chris Evert). Bouchard will need an encore of Wimbledon 2013, where she defeated Ana Ivanovic in the second round.

12. Alternative career: If her tennis career did not take off – and that is an almost impossible if, given her immense talents – Eugenie had an alternative in mind. Where most travelers despise time in the airports, the young woman seems to have learnt to enjoy the necessary evil and embrace it too. She loves spending time at the airports and has long craved an experience as an Air Traffic Controller. Bouchard thinks it is really cool that she could sit in the ATC tower and control a large bird, irrespective of whether she even has a license to drive a car.

“I know it’s kind of weird but I want to be an air traffic controller,” Bouchard told the Sydney Morning Herald in December last year. “I spent so much time in airports and on planes and I’m always sitting there looking up at the tower and I’m like, ‘What on earth are they doing up there? I heard it’s such a high-stress job they can only do it for two years and then you have to stop before you get burnt out. For me, I love that – those high-stress, high-pressure situations. I enjoy those moments. It would be so cool to be up there and landing 747s from Japan and wherever.”

That in part explains the toughness that she exhibited in her encounters against Sloane Stephens and Venus last year or in her match with Casey Dellacqua at this year’s Australian Open. Let us just hope that the young girl is able to retain her hunger and maintain her calm as she climbs up the ladder of women’s tennis.