Bouchard Named WTA’s Most Improved Player

November 18, 2014 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Eugenie_Bouchard_Crop
Photo credit: Calvin Rhoden

In 2013, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard broke on to the world tennis scene, reaching her first career WTA final and earning the WTA Newcomer of the Year award. She followed that up with a spectacular 2014 campaign, and on Tuesday she took home the WTA Most Improved Player Award.

Bouchard posted a match record of 45-23 this past year, but it was her performance in Grand Slams that really made her a household name. The 20-year-old has already etched her name into the Canadian tennis record books as she became the second Canadian ever to reach a Grand Slam semifinal and the first, men or women, to crack the top five rankings.

It began in January at the Australian Open, when she beat former world number one Ana Ivanovic on her way to the semifinals in Melbourne. She would lose to eventual champion Li Na in the semis but established herself on the tour.

She would capture her first title in mid-May at Nurnberg and carried that momentum into the French Open the following week. At Roland Garros, she again made her way into the final four before running into the eventual champion yet again. This time, Maria Sharapova took out Bouchard in a three-set battle before going on to win the title.

Her finest performance would come at Wimbledon though as she became the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam final. She knocked off Simona Halep on the way to a final showdown with Petra Kvitova. While she was only able to win three games in the final, the deep run was enough to propel her to number seven in the rankings, the highest ever for a Canadian.

In the fall, her ranking would peak at number five, and despite her disappointing showing at the WTA Finals in Singapore, the young Canadian became one of the players to beat this season.

“I’m honored to be voted the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year. Thank you for voting!” said Bouchard. “My goal is to try to improve every single day, and I feel like I did that this year. But while I’m proud of my accomplishments, I’ve already set new goals I want to strive to reach next year. I look forward to continuing to improve!”

The award is voted on by both the media and the fans. Bouchard won the majority of voting from each side with 45 of 58 media votes and 49% of the fan votes. 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Oneononedoubles banner art resize
USTA NTC

January/February 2024 Digital Edition