Inside Eugenie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova’s feud as ex-Wimbledon finalist insists it was ‘real’

5 months ago 52

EUGENIE BOUCHARD has opened up on her feud with Maria Sharapova.

The Canadian has insisted that their rivalry was “real” after the tennis stars became involved in a war of words last year.

Eugenie Bouchard has insisted her feud with Maria Sharapova is real[/caption]

Sharapova has refused to be drawn on the comments[/caption]

The dig related to Sharapova’s ban for using prohibited substances[/caption]

Bouchard, 30, hit out at Sharapova and Dayana Yastremska after they were handed bans for testing positive for prohibited substances.

The revelation came out after the Bouchard beat the Ukranian at the Madrid Open last April.

Bouchard hit out at the Russian and Ukrainian news with a dig on social media.

In a now-deleted post, she wrote: “There’s something about playing dopers in Madrid”.

She was asked about the feud with Sharapova, 37, during an interview with Valeria Lipovestsky on YouTube.

The question posed queried whether or not the rivalry was real or made up for entertainment.

Bouchard claimed: “It was real, but I wish there was more of the game in tennis.

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“We need more personality, we need matches to be more hyped up just like wrestling, fighting or individual combat sports.”

She continued to argue that there should be more expressive personalities in the sport of tennis.

She added: “I think it would make tennis more interesting and better, we need bad boys [like] Nick Kyrgios, we need John McEnroe from back in the day.

“So for me I was just expressing my opinion, how I really believe in fair and clean sport and it just turned into something.

“I think tennis would be so much more interesting if the personalities were a little more expressive.”

Bouchard had previously claimed that Sharapova should have been kicked out of the sport permanently after his 15-month ban from a failed test in 2016.

She claimed that it was “unfair” on the other players and that it was not the correct call by the WTA Tour.

She said: “It’s so unfair to all the other players who do it the right way and are true.

“So, I think from the WTA it sends the wrong message to young kids – cheat and we’ll welcome you back with open arms.

“I don’t think that’s right and [she’s] definitely not someone I can say I look up to anymore because that’s definitely ruined it for me a little bit.”

After Bouchard’s comments, Sharapova refused to comment on the previous Wimbledon finalist.

She said: “I don’t have anything to say – I am way above that.”