Eugenie Bouchard materialized overnight a dozen years ago on the tennis Grand Slam scene — and almost as quickly is making a name for herself in the sport’s broadcasting space.
Bouchard is one of those at the forefront of this “new wave” of broadcasters, as she calls it. Better known as Genie, the recently retired Canadian tennis pro has been busy in a year when she expected things to be more “normal” and “stable.”
“Being a part of this kind of new wave has been exciting, and I just hope we can make tennis fun and young — and just keep it and make it as popular as ever basically,” Bouchard told The Post in a recent phone interview.
Bouchard, 32, has strived to be a relatable, authentic and fun media personality as she accumulates opportunities in the broadcasting world across a variety of networks striving to reach younger audiences.
That has come through her various Tennis Channel appearances or her time on TNT during the French Open or covering Wimbledon for the BBC — and now on the ESPN desk as an analyst during the 2026 U.S. Open.
She told The Post that working for the network during the hard court Grand Slam was “always the goal”
The opportunity with the Worldwide Leader was very “validating” for Bouchard at a time when she is learning how next phase of her career will take shape with the intricacies of her life not fully revolving around performance on the court.
Bouchard now has the ability to make time for things she never did before. She is visiting family more often in Montreal. She is traveling, including girls trips to Quebec and Lake Como this summer.
It also includes the little things like going to the same nail salon twice — rather than one in a different city every few weeks.
“Being able to actually go on vacation is such a luxury,” Bouchard said, adding how “fun” it is to go somewhere without her tennis bag. “I’ve been so conditioned that traveling equates to going to a tennis tournament.”
Bouchard is also trying to prioritize her much-discussed personal life — who remembers the Super Bowl bet date? — since recently becoming single. She was most recently linked to Ian Hathaway, a partner at OpenAI. She hopes to devote some time to living her “best ‘Sex and the City’ life in New York City” before getting married and starting a family some day.
It all was neglected during her tennis career, which started at the age of 15.
“Everything suffered in pursuit of excellence in tennis,” Bouchard said. “…There are big costs, and now it’s like at this point of my life I’m able to kind of revert the costs a little bit and try to make up for lost time.”
Bouchard retired in July 2025 after playing her final match at the National Bank Open in Montreal – where it all started.
She peaked with a career-high ranking of No. 5 after a stunning stretch in 2014 that saw her reach the final of Wimbledon and the semifinals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
That’s when she kicked off an occasional social media presence full of “silly” Facebook posts with her siblings, friends and around tennis. It has paid off since.
On and off camera, Bouchard is not overly polished. Her outgoing personality and self-deprecating humor carries over on air.
Bouchard was quick to call herself out when sharing the BBC desk with Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon, commenting “Who doesn’t belong lol” on her own Instagram post.
While on the desk, she will break down one of the top players by explaining, for example, “I’ve never beaten her and this is why.”
“I think maybe they sense that it’s important to get some more recently retired players, to get the kind of younger, fresher voices,” Bouchard said, a trend that includes Andy Roddick emerging as a popular voice on ESPN and his “Served” podcast.
“We love and respect all the previous generations, and I’ve been lucky to work with some of them. I know Chris Evert really well. I worked with John McEnroe at the French Open. Like, I love everyone, but I think there’s something exciting about the younger players who played these players and who have played them very recently. All the networks have kind of sensed they want to do that and that’s what I’ve seen over the last couple years. To be a small little part of that is an honor and very exciting.”
Bouchard is still navigating this new version of herself and how to feel out what is right for this stage of life. Once the opportunities started flowing in, she said yes more often than no, which at times left her overwhelmed.
“My thought process is like everything deserves a chance once,” she said.
Through that, she has seen retirement doesn’t mean the end of relevance.
“I thought when I was retired maybe brands will be less interested in me. It’s like, ‘Oh no, wait, I’m doing cooler brand stuff now than I even was when I was playing,’” she said.
Bouchard finds herself flying two or three times a week for events, photo shoots and TV appearances while still getting some pickleball in. What has been most surprising to her has been how much she is simply enjoying all of it, down to the simple details.
“The feeling of having a bit more of a normal job, a normal routine, the stability, like all that kind of stuff – it’s been good for my mental health in a sense,” she said.
“The joy in doing that is really unbelievable for someone who’s never been able to do that.”
The schedule still isn’t “normal enough” for Bouchard, who has has two weeks off after the U.S. Open. She’ll spend it getting her wisdom teeth out.
To that, her mom said: “You really need a physical ailment to slow you down.”
