Eugenie Bouchard confirms Maria Sharapova feud was real thing, tells why she loved it

06/24/2024 06:38 AM

Eugenie Bouchard has made quite a revelation to tennis fans as the 30-year-old Canadian confirms that she and Maria Sharapova indeed had "a feud" going on.

In 2017, the tennis world was left stunned after Bouchard had the guts to publicly call Sharapova "a cheater" just when she was returning from her 15-month doping that she received after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium. 

Then what made it really interesting is that Bouchard played against Sharapova in the Madrid Open second round shortly after those comments. When Bouchard took to the court, it was evident that she was very motivated to beat the former five-time Grand Slam champion and she managed to do so after claiming a 7-5 2-6 6-4 win. 

After that 2017 Madrid campaign that was probably one of the most entertaining of Bouchard's career when taking some things into account, she didn't play at Caja Magica again until last year. And in her Madrid return, Bouchard started by beating Dayana Yastremska, who was also banned before being cleared to return to tennis. 

"There’s something about playing dopers in Madrid," Bouchard wrote on X after beating Yastremska. The post was instantly noticed by tennis fans and screenshotted before the Canadian deleted it.

A few days ago, Bouchard sat down with YouTuber Valeria Lipovetsky for an interview. Lipovetsky used the interview to ask a very interesting question and Bouchard answered the question. 

"It was real but I wish there was more of the game in tennis. We need more personality, we need matches to be more hyped up just like wrestling, fighting or individual combat sports," Bouchard told Lipovetsky when asked about the rumored Sharapova feud.

In Bouchard's mind, stuff like this only makes the game more entertaining. Because of that, she would like to see more of it in tennis. 

"I think it would make tennis more interesting and better, we need bad boys [like] Nick Kyrgios, we need John McEnroe from back in the day. So for me I was just expressing my opinion, how I really believe in fair and clean sport and it just turned into something. I think tennis would be so much more interesting if the personalities were a little more expressive," Bouchard explained.

In 2016 February, Sharapova announced a special press conference. Since it came shortly after an Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Serena Williams, some feared that the Russian former world No. 1 was about to announce retirement at the age of 28. But the news was somehow even more shocking after the former five-time Grand Slam champion revealed that she was slapped with a doping ban. 

And after Sharapova received a main draw wildcard to start her comeback in Stuttgart in 2017 April, Bouchard made some damning comments. 

"She's a cheater and so to me. I don't think a cheater in any sport should be allowed to play that sport again. It's so unfair to all the other players who do it the right way and are true," Bouchard said back then.

So, I think from the WTA it sends the wrong message to young kids—cheat and we'll welcome you back with open arms. I don't think that's right and [she's] definitely not someone I can say I look up to anymore because that's definitely ruined it for me a little bit."

After Sharapova got brutally called out by Bouchard and also lost to the Canadian in Madrid, pretty much everybody wanted to know what would the Russian say about the 2014 Wimbledon finalist. Sharapova didn't say much but it was still a loud response.

"I don't have anything to say – I am way above that," Sharapova said.

Two years ago, Bouchard revealed that just before the start of her Madrid match against Sharapova, the Russian apparently tried to "intimidate" her by hitting the balls very hard. 

"Oh yeah Sharapova. She just tries to hit the ball as hard as she can in the warm-up. It’s so annoying. She’s trying to intimidate you but it didn’t work on me," Bouchard said on the Pardon my Take podcast when asked if anyone ever was really annoying during a warm-up. 

Bouchard didn't like Sharapova's action but she didn't want to complain about it.

"The umpire can’t force you to do anything. Ultimately the umpire can’t force the person to warm up. You could just walk on the court and decide not to warm up if you don’t want to but normally most of us just do some easy rallying to feel good and some try to do winners and try hit as hard as they can," Bouchard added. 

For Bouchard, the Madrid win over Sharapova was her first in their fifth meeting. After that match, Bouchard and Sharapova never played again.