It’s a date - again: Bouchard

A glamorous tennis star and handsome nobody, brought together by a fairytale sporting comeback and a relationship played out to the world on social media.

While it sounds like it could be the plot of the latest Richard Curtis film, romance appears to be blooming for real for Eugenie Bouchard and an American university student as they plan a second date.

The Canadian tennis star, who models for Sports Illustrated, made a bet with John Goehrke, a 20-yearold student, that the Atlanta Falcons would defeat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

The Falcons were 21-0 ahead when Bouchard tweeted she was certain Atlanta would win. ‘‘If Patriots win [can] we go on a date?’’ Goehrke tweeted. ‘‘Sure,’’ Bouchard fired back. Sure enough, New England pulled off one of the unlikeliest comebacks in Super Bowl history, winning 34-28 in overtime.

Bouchard honoured the bet and flew Goehrke from Missouri, where he studies, to New York. She secured front row seats for a basketball game on Wednesday evening. The date clearly went well - Bouchard tweeted regular updates to her more than one million followers, including a picture of Goehrke kissing her on the cheek at the end of the evening.

He followed up with a gift - some earrings from Tiffany’s.

On Friday, she described Mr Goehrke as a ‘‘gentleman’’ and said the date was ‘‘awesome!’’

When asked whether there would be a second date, she replied to the reporter: ‘‘For sure!’’

‘‘I planned the date. He picked me up at my hotel like a gentleman, then we came over here, he brought me a nice little gift and he enjoyed the game courtside,’’ she said.

The tennis player, who is currently ranked 44th in the world, admitted that she was ‘‘so lucky’’ Goehrke is ‘‘normal’’. ‘‘It turns out he seems to be a very nice boy.’’

The student said it was ‘‘amazing’’ that Bouchard had agreed to the date.