Tennis News: Eugenie Bouchard, Rafael Nadal and Lorenzo Sonego

Eugenie Bouchard never quite reached the heights of tennis she was hoping to. She was a talented player, but never truly a great one. She was aware of that as well. She was also aware of her attractiveness. This might not have led to much prize money by winning tennis tournaments, but it led to a bunch of endorsement deals.

This is not meant as any disrespect to Bouchard either. Most people are not self-aware of their limitations. One might want to be a great writer, for instance, but there is a difference between Ernest Hemingway and someone like me. I can type out articles as well as anyone, but no one is going to read my writings and think, “Yeah, next coming of Hemingway for sure.”

Of course, being physically attractive isn’t necessarily a talent, but taking advantage of the situation could be. Bouchard recently explained in an interview with YouTuber Valeria Lipovetsky that while she was still trying to win at tennis, she was thinking beyond the sport as well. She needed to make a long-term income, not one that might only last for 10 years.

Bouchard said, “Tennis first of all is a great sport for that sex appeal side. I mean we’re wearing short skirts, we’re wearing tank tops…Right away I was able to get great marketing deals off the court…Exploring that path was definitely on my to-do list, it’s definitely part of who I am because I think it’s great.”

To be fair, Bouchard is pretty knowledgeable about tennis as well. She does an excellent job as an in-studio commentator for the Tennis Channel during tournaments. Let’s hope she gets a few more chances to do that.

In other slightly odd news, if you watched the excellent new documentary about Roger Federer called Twelve Final Days, you may have picked up on a moment when Rafael Nadal Nadal and Matteo Berrettini are having a conversation about Lorenzo Sonego. This is due to a 2022 match at Wimbledon when Nadal was playing Sonego and Sonego kept grunting long after points were finished.

During the third set of the match – Nadal was up by two sets by trailing by a break in the third set – Nadal went to the net to question Sonego about the noise. Grunting is sadly commonplace in tennis now, but a player is not supposed to extend the dreadful sound for well after a ball is struck. Sonego was. Nadal did not like it.

So much so that months after the event, Nadal got into a discussion with Sonego’s countryman Berrettini about the issue at Wimbledon at the Laver Cup. Berrettini was trying to be nice and stand up for his fellow Italian but Nadal was having none of it.

Nadal told Berrettini that Sonego made the noise “on purpose.” Berrettini replied that Sonego doesn’t. Nadal refused Berrettini’s opinion and likely still does because, well…Nadal is correct.

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