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Eugenie Bouchard opened up about her mental health struggles during a period of declination in her career, which came just a year following her rise to the upper echelons of the world of tennis in 2014. The Canadian discussed how she couldn't speak of her struggles publicly since mental health was considered a taboo topic at the time.
Bouchard rose to prominence during the 2014 season when she reached the Wimbledon final and made it to the semifinals of the Australian Open and the French Open.
However, the Canadian failed to replicate her heroics the following season, facing shocking opening-round exits at Wimbledon and the French Open, among other disappointing results. These defeats resulted in a tumble in the rankings as she saw herself ending the season outside of the Top 10.
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In the latest episode of the Tennis Insider Club podcast, which is hosted by Caroline Garcia and her fiance Borja Duran, Eugenie Bouchard got candid about her mental health struggle, which she faced during the 2015 season. She also touched upon how mental health was a taboo topic back in the day.
"After doing really well in 2014, 2015 for me was like a really tough year and it's hard because first of all, back in the day we didn't talk about mental health the way we do now," Bouchard said. (12:02)
The Canadian admitted that she was struggling and couldn't even admit to her struggles publicly since revealing that she had a therapist would be considered a sign of weakness.
"I was really struggling. I didn't feel comfortable saying anything about it because even admitting you had a therapist back in the day… you had a weakness," Bouchard said.
She said that revealing her struggle would give her opponents a psychological advantage and also mentioned how people would think she was weak.
"And I was scared to say something so then my opponents would like, feel more confident playing against me and stuff like that. And then just public perception of like oh my god you're weak or there's something wrong with you," Eugenie Bouchard said.
"I went through a tough time and I couldn't talk about it" - Eugenie Bouchard delighted that mental health isn't considered a taboo topic anymore
Speaking further, Eugenie Bouchard opened up about how she would have wanted to express what she was going through during the time but knew that she couldn't do it publicly.
"So, I feel like it would have probably been helpful to be able to talk about it or just maybe have this outlet to be able to express maybe more what I was going through, and I totally couldn't do that publically at all," the 30-year-old said.
The Canadian was delighted that mental health struggles weren't considered a taboo topic anymore. Having said that, she reiterated that she would have loved to open up about her struggles publicly as well.
"So I'm happy now that it's totally normal, and everyone has a therapist and I'm so happy that has changed, but I went through a tough time and I just couldn't talk about it."
Eugenie Bouchard is currently juggling her career as a professional in two sports, tennis and pickleball. In tennis, she was last seen in action at the Canadian Open where she was ousted in the qualifiers by Moyuka Uchijima.
