Mutual admiration aplenty between Williams, Bouchard
SERENA Williams admires Eugenie Bouchard’s fight. And Eugenie Bouchard admires just about everything about Serena Williams.
There was plenty of mutual respect between Williams and Bouchard ahead of their second round Australian Open clash today.
Continuing her quest to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam singles crowns, Williams will face Bouchard for the first time since the 2014 season when she defeated the young Canadian in the WTA finals in Singapore.
Both players scored comfortable straight-sets wins in the first round at Melbourne Park, and Williams expected Bouchard to present an early challenge in her Open campaign.
“It will be a
She plays really ams, 37, said.
“She does everything well, and I really like that she doesn’t quit. You know, people write her off and she doesn’t let that bother her.
“She continues to fight and do what she needs to do. I think that’s really good.’’
Having been ranked as high as fifth in the world in 2014, Bouchard is now the world No.79 and working on clawing her way back up the rankings after finishing 2018 at No.89.
After her impressive opening-round win over Chinese wildcard Peng Shuai, the 24year-old will get the chance to see how far she’s come against the seven-time Australian Open champion. great match. well,’’ Willi-
Bouchard said she couldn’t wait to test herself against Williams, whom she still considers to be the best player in the world.
“I think she’s … the greatest ever. So it’s just so cool that I’ll be able to share the court with her and an opportunity to see how I compare to one of the best players we’ve seen,’’ Bouchard said.
“I mean, her ranking is top 20 right now, but to me she’s always basically No.1. I admire obviously the longevity of her career, her dominance over such a long amount of time, how she’s come back so many times from injury, pregnancy, et cetera.
“I don’t want to talk about it too much and put her on too much of a pedestal because I have to play her … but I love her.”