"If Serena Williams is getting nervous, it’s fine we’re nervous"- Eugenie Bouchard reveals how American's example helped her overcome eating disorder

Eugenie Bouchard recently opened up about how Serena Williams' example helped her overcome her eating disorder to a point. Bouchard admitted to struggling with eating because of stress before her matches.

Bouchard caught the attention of many when she made history by reaching the finals of the Wimbledon Championships in 2014 . She became the first Canadian tennis player to achieve such a feat, however, despite her impressive run, she ultimately lost to Petra Kvitova in the final

Since then, Eugenie Bouchard has been in and out of the court as she faced a series of injuries which in turn impacted her performance on the WTA tour. She most recently competed in the 2024 Canadian Open, where she failed to advance to the main draw after losing in the first qualifying round. The Canadian has also explored playing pickleball

During a recent episode of Caroline Garcia and her fiance Borja Durans' podcast, the Tennis Insider Club, Bouchard discussed her struggles with an eating disorder. She explained that while food was never a concern for her in the past, the stress of tennis competitions affected her eating habits.

“I’ve always been okay with my relationship with food and it’s never really been an issue for me. But when it came to like tennis and specifically in the years where I felt really stressed about matches, it was just hard for me to eat. I was just so stressed,” Eugenie Bouchard said [31:21].

The former World No.5 stated that she found it difficult to eat before matches due to nerves and stress. She mentioned that while she understood the need to eat as she will burn calories while playing, the stress of it all made her unable to stomach any sort of food.

“People have different reactions to it and I’m the type like it’s hard like I just like my stomach like in a knot and I just can't keep something down and so I would just like really struggle to eat before matches. It was like I know I need to eat for my job and I would just be so nervous before, so stressed that I’m like forcing myself, like really forcing myself [to eat,]” she added [31:42].

Eugenie Bouchard revealed that her former agent, Jill Smoller, who also works with Serena Williams, shared that Williams experienced similar challenges with eating before matches due to nerves.

Learning that even a player of Williams' caliber struggled with pre-match nerves helped Bouchard validate her own struggles.

“I remember sitting at home with my agent at the time, Jill Smoller who works with Serena [Williams] and she would talk about how nervous Serena got and like and that helped me see that everything was right in the world. She would say, ‘Oh my God, she[Serena Williams] got so nervous like you can’t even imagine.’ I'm like 'image!' If Serena is getting that nervous, I think it’s fine that we’re all getting nervous here,” Eugenie Bouchard continued [32:38].

Bouchard said that even to this day her body shuts down and she is unable to eat before a match and that she has to push herself to eat a little bit before playing.

“Even to this day before matches I’m still nervous to the point where I kind of have to work myself to eat. If I’m stressed it's more like a shutdown, like my body shuts down, everything's down, I don't want to eat, I don't want to do anything,” Eugenie Bouchard added [33:08].

Eugenie Bouchard has faced Serena Williams three times on the WTA tour

Eugenie Bouchard at the 2024 Canadian Open [Source: Getty]

Eugenie Bouchard has competed against Serena Williams three times on the WTA tour, with the American emerging victorious in all three encounters.

Their first match took place in the second round of the 2013 Cincinnati Open. The former World No.1, was the top seed in the tournament, while Bouchard entered the main draw after successfully navigating the qualifying rounds. Williams, who was playing her first match in the tournament, defeated Bouchard 4-6, 6-2, 6-2

The next time Bouchard and Williams faced off against each other was in the group stage of the 2014 WTA Finals, where the 23-time Grand Slam champion, dominated with a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Their last meeting on the WTA tour was in the second round of the 2019 Australian Open, where Serena Williams registered a 6-2, 6-2 win over Eugenie Bouchard.