“Oh, my God, I went through that six, eight years ago. Haters will hate, you know what I mean? – Bouchard empathises with Raducanu

Two of the women making most of the headlines in the first few days of the WTA Madrid Open have been Eugenie Bouchard and Emma Raducanu. The Canadian, now ranked No 285 in the world, won two matches in the qualifying draw to book her spot in the main draw, where she defeated Dayana Yastremska in three sets in the first round on Wednesday.

Raducanu, on the other hand, pulled out of the tournament prior to her first round match with an ongoing wrist injury. That came after her pre-tournament press conference in which her terse responses drew the attention and ire of many. The withdrawal and subsequent drop of points (Raducanu reached the round of 16 last year) will see the former US Open champion drop out of the top 100.

While their results may be following opposite directions this week, Bouchard said she empathises with Raducanu as she faced a similar level of online hate as the Brit after she herself failed to back up her incredible 2014 results in subsequent seasons.

You can’t win all the time unless you’re Novak (Djokovic) or Rafael (Nadal)

Eugenie Bouchard

“Looking back, I was still Top 50 in the world,” Bouchard said as per the WTA site. “It’s still amazing to be 50 in the world. And you can’t win all the time unless you’re Novak (Djokovic) or Rafael (Nadal). I see lots of similarities (with Raducanu).”

“I feel for her in the sense. She has a great life, she’s set for life and she’s had great achievements. But I can understand a little bit, possibly the pressure, the scrutiny. She tweeted something, posted something about not doing tennis one day and people were like, `Why don’t you go practice.’ I was like, `Oh, my God, I went through that six, eight years ago.’ Haters will hate, you know what I mean?”

Bouchard has refused to let the haters have their way as she continues to post regular updates on social media, even when it’s not about her tennis and is glad to see that it has become more acceptable among players now.

“I’ve known all along who I am and what I do,” the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up said. “And look, lots of tennis players are posting, people post more than me these days. I’m so happy that these days it’s so much more normal. As long as you don’t get too distracted with it, stay focused on your No.1 goal. Why not? Life is great. Just don’t put us in a box.”

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