"I would have been crucified": Eugenie Bouchard highlights gender bias in tennis after Jack Draper expresses love for camera

Canada’s tennis star Eugenie Bouchard has highlighted the double standards women tennis players face after a recent photoshoot of Britain’s men’s tennis Jack Draper. The youngster recently appeared in Vogue magazine and was later quoted in a report as saying that he ‘loves’ being in front of the camera.

In a post on her official account on the social media platform X—previously known as Twitter—Bouchard highlighted the double standards and stated that she would have been ‘crucified’ for saying something similar a decade ago. "If I had said this 10 years ago, I would have been crucified," she wrote.

Bouchard made an interesting point. Previously, Briain’s young tennis star Emma Raducanu received severe criticism after expressing her love for the camera. Draper is going through arguably a great period in his short career. He recently lifted the Stuttgart Open after beating Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in the final with a score of 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.

The Sutton-born is now taking part in the Queen’s ATP Tennis Championship, where he started on a bright note. In the round of 32, he outclassed Mariano Navone in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2. He is now set to face off Spain’s young sensation Carlos Alcaraz in the second round, who booked his place after getting the better of Francisco Cerundolo in the first round with a score of 6-1, 7-5.

It will be the third meeting between the two. In the previous two meetings, Alcaraz has a clear edge, emerging victorious on both occasions. Their first meeting was in 2022 in Basel, where in the first round of the Swiss Indoors, the Spaniard came out on top with a score of 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Their previous meeting was in the fourth round of Indian Wells in 2023, where Draper was forced to withdraw from the contest in the third set because of fitness concerns. Interestingly, their contest at the Queen’s Championship will be the first on a grass surface.