Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard CRASHES OUT in the first round of qualifying after straight sets defeat by Greet Minnen as she tries to rebuild her tennis career
- Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard reached the Wimbledon final in 2014
- She has struggled since due to injury and form, dropping down the rankings
- Bouchard, 29, lost in the first round of qualifying for this year’s tournament
Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard was unable to resurrect her career at this year’s tournament after she crashed out in the first round of qualifying by losing to Greet Minnen.
Bouchard, 29, was once tipped to be among the greats of Women’s tennis after winning the Wimbledon girls’ title as a junior back in 2012.
The high watermark of her career came in 2014 when she reached the semi-finals of both the Australian Open and French Open ahead of the showpiece event in SW19.
Bouchard – whose rise to stardom is still replicated by her 2.4million Instagram followers – then went one better, reaching the final of Wimbledon that year before losing to Czech star Petra Kvitova.
However, the Canadian – who was once world No 5 – suffered a dramatic decline due to form and injuries over the subsequent years and is currently ranked at No 218 in the world.
Eugenie Bouchard exited Wimbledon qualifying in the first round after defeat to Greet Minnen
The Canadian star reached the Wimbledon final back in 2014, before losing to Petra Kvitova
Since then she has struggled with injury and form and has dropped down to world No 218
Bouchard spoke to Mail Sport’s Mike Dickson back in April about her struggles and hopes to rebuild her career, while also insisting she sympathised with Emma Radacanu’s current plight in attempting to balance sport and fame.
However, her plans to rebuild her career will have to be put on hold after a loss in straight sets to Belgian player Minnen.
Bouchard went down 4-6 5-7 to the world No 120 in her first match of qualifying at Roehampton.
However, she did show some fight in the second set as she battled back from 5-3 down to level the game at 5-5 before she was eventually defeated 5-7.
The loss means Bouchard’s hiatus from the tournament will stretch to at least five years after her first round defeat in 2019.
Since 2014, she has only gone past the second round of a Grand Slam on five out of 26 attempts.
Bouchard (pictured after the 2014 final) was seen as one of the hottest prospects in Women’s tennis after she also reached the semi-finals of the Australian and French Open that year
The 29-year-old had spoken about her hopes to rebuild her career but crashed out on Tuesday