Eugenie Bouchard wishes she could tell her 20-year-old self not to listen to critics: 'Don't take it as the truth'

Eugenie Bouchard isn’t one to shy away from a challenge. After more than 25 years of playing tennis, the Canadian athlete is adding a new sport to her roster: pickleball. In addition to playing tennis as part of the Women’s Tennis Association, the 30-year-old Montreal native has joined the Pro Tour of Pickleball (PPA) and relishing the chance to push herself on both courts.

Yahoo Canada spoke to Bouchard about mental health, finding her personal style and balancing her busy career.

A heart-to-heart with her 20-year-old self

After turning pro in 2009, Bouchard’s career sky-rocketed when she became the first Canadian to reach the Women’s finals at Wimbledon. Looking back a decade later, Bouchard says she wishes she could tell her younger self “not to let outside voices” influence her.

“I was thrust into the spotlight at 20 and you start seeing all these things about you and hearing all these things about you,” she says. “Even if you try to avoid it by not reading stuff on social media, it still gets brought to your attention.”

Bouchard says post-tennis press conferences would often comment on public perception and make it impossible to ignore what’s being said.

“Don’t take it as the truth,” she says. “People don’t know what’s really going on, and they don’t know what you’re doing on a day-to-day basis.... Why would you take advice and listen to an opinion of someone who doesn’t know you and hasn’t been where you want to go anyway?”

Finding peace in 'good enough'

Bouchard’s journey with perfectionism has been both an asset — and a detriment — to her career. Through a lot of self work, Bouchard is learning to embrace her therapists advice about things being “good enough.”

“Sometimes I’ll procrastinate doing something because I want to wait until I can do it perfectly, and then I’ll put all this pressure and stress on myself to make it perfect,” she says. “Those incremental percentages of things being better are not worth the amount of stress that it takes to get them.”

Game-changing advice

Over the course of her career, Bouchard has received countless advice about her tennis game that translates to her life off of the court.

“The biggest thing was from coaches telling me not to limit myself mentally,” she says. “I think we do it subconsciously as humans because we’re so scared of failure that we don’t even allow ourselves to dream big enough or not set high enough goals.”

Bouchard says hearing her coaches belief in her abilities would show her how many limitations she put on herself.

“It taught me to try and get rid of that ceiling and trying my best and seeing what happens,” she says.

Emerging as a style favourite on and off the court

When she’s on the court, Bouchard’s style is all about function: tennis skirts or shorts that allow her to perform at her best.

Off the court, Bouchard has become a source of style inspiration for many young women and is frequently turning heads on the red carpet or out for drinks sipping on her go-to Grey Goose espresso martinis.

“I like incorporating clean and simple silhouettes with some classic pieces and more fun colours that still allow me to express myself with a little fashion flair,” she says. “You can often find me in a classy dress or a cute matching set. You can never go wrong with either one.”

No regrets in life, and in style

“Growing up, I always admired Anna Kournikova’s style and the way she was able to combine sport and girly looks with her fashion on and off the court,” Bouchard says. “As I’ve been getting older, I’ve been gravitating towards pieces that bring me joy like bright patterns, colourful dresses and fun accessories, while experimenting more with my personal style.”

Bouchard’s confidence extends beyond the tennis and pickleball court. Even when she tires something new or trendy, she extends herself some grace — unless you’re looking at photos from the early aughts.

“I think that finding your personal style comes with trial and error and sometimes depending on the stye and era, there may be more error,” she says. “I don’t think I have one specific trend that I regret trying, but there are a few looks from the early 2000s that I probably wouldn’t have worn had it not been the early 2000s.”

On balancing pickleball and tennis

Although they’re both racquet sports, Bouchard says pickleball and tennis require two completely different skill sets.

“It’s not easy,” Bouchard says, adding that there was a “big learning curve” for her.

Bouchard had to learn new types of shots and get used to using a paddle and a very different type of ball. “I think people had expectations of me to do well right away on the pro pickleball tour, and I did not,” she says.

Despite the challenge, Bouchard says pickleball has helped improve her tennis game.

“I feel like I have better hands when I play tennis now...” she says. “I now feel comfortable at the net.”

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