A tennis icon who modelled for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ‘lost her Rolex deal’ after undergoing a major appearance change during a rebellious stage
Tennis icon Eugenie Bouchard opened up about losing her Rolex deal after undergoing a major appearance change during a rebellious stage.
The 32-year-old Canadian burst onto the world scene in 2014 at the age of 20 when she reached the final of Wimbledon and the semi-final of the Australian and French Open. However, her career and life were consumed by chaos that saw her retire at just 31.
Bouchard, who appeared on the front cover of Sports Illustrated in 2018, was beaten by Czech star Petra Kvitova at the All England Lawn in just her second appearance but her rise still saw her thrust into the spotlight at such a tender age.
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“After that final, my life became chaotic: media attention, sponsors, changes on every level,” she told the Tennis Insider Club. “Everything around my changed, which didn’t help short-term, plus the weight of expectations.
“Before, winning was amazing and losing normal – now winning was expected, losing a catastrophe. Anything short of a final was failure.”
After her breakout year, Bouchard climbed to a career-high ranking of world No 5, but she admitted the weight of the expectation had taken a toll on her mental health in the following years.
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She continued: “After an excellent 2014, 2015 was very difficult for me. It was tough because mental health wasn’t discussed like it is today, and back then I was suffering a lot – I simply didn’t dare talk about it.
“Even admitting you saw a therapist was strange. People thought you were crazy or weak. I’m happy it’s become a completely normal topic, glad things have changed, but I went through a very difficult period and couldn’t talk about it.”
The scrutiny on the Canadian left her to feel she had to express herself in different ways as she embarked on a rebellious streak by shaving an undercut into her hairstyle. A move she says cost her a lucrative partnership with the luxury watch manufacturer.
“To be fair, I wanted a very small under-cut thing,” she said on the Ok Sweetie podcast. “I don’t know what happened, but it was literally half my head.
“I feel like I look like a cancer patient. I was like, ‘This is not the look I was going for’. It was way worse than I intended, but it caused me not to get my Rolex deal renewed.”
However, Bouchard stressed that she felt at times she had been categorised for her looks during her playing career.
“I don’t want to be just painted with a broad stroke of, OK, that’s all she is’,” she continued. “There are layers and layers and layers.
“Sometimes I just feel like people would label me as ‘OK, she just likes to post this on Instagram or something’… there’s so much more to me than that.
“That’s not what I think about 24/7. It’s a portion of my personality. Just assuming someone is only surface-level, or what they show, that’s just the feeling I’ve gotten sometimes.”