Eugenie Bouchard draws motivation from Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka on her comeback trail

Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard recently said she draws motivation from the fact that big hitters like Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka have been dominating the women's tennis circuit lately.

Bouchard, a former World No. 5 but currently ranked 292nd, drew parallels between her aggressive game and the playing style of Rybakina and Sabalenka. The Canadian is making a slow but steady comeback to competitive tennis this season after nursing multiple injuries and battling poor form.

Speaking at the pre-tournament press conference at the Oeiras Ladies Open, where she was granted a wild card, Bouchard said it was good to see an aggressive game style dominating in most of the tournaments now.

"We see a lot of big hitters that are winning all the tournaments. We have Elena Rybakina and (Aryna) Sabalenka just like in the finals of almost every tournament. It's interesting to see that the game style is kind of still the one that's dominating at the ultimate end, and for me I like that because I have an aggressive game style and that's more how I want to play and it's motivating to see that," she said.

The Canadian added that although big hitters have found a way to dominate, she was happy about the depth and variety in women's tennis right now.

"I think it's open. There is depth, but it's open too. You know, there's a bit of both kind of anything that can happen, but there are some really solid players, so it is interesting," she said.

Elena Rybakina hungry for more Grand Slam titles

Elena Rybakina after winning the Wimbledon in 2022.

Reigning Wimbledon Champion Elena Rybakina recently expressed her desire to add to her Slam tally. The Kazhak, who is currently ranked No. 7 in the world, reflected on the massive couple of years she has had, which includes winning Wimbledon 2022 and reaching the final of Australian Open 2023.

"Of course, it's not easy and everything that happened probably over the past year is quite a huge work of my whole team and in general, a huge experience for me," she said in a recent interview with Vesti.kz.

"In the future, I'll try to keep the same bar, improve my game, progress in all aspects," she added. "I hope that I will be able to achieve and win some more Grand Slams. So I hope that everything will work out according to plan."

Elena Rybakina beat Bianca Andreescu, Simona Halep, and Ons Jabeur on her way to lifting her first Major at SW19 last year. The Russian-born Kazakh then beat Danielle Collins, World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, Jelena Ostapenko, and Victoria Azarenka to reach the final of the 2023 Australian Open, where she lost to Sabalenka in three sets.

At the BNP Paribas Open last month, Elena Rybakina got the better of Paula Badosa, Swiatek and Sabalenka to clinch her maiden WTA 1000 title. The 23-year-old fell just short of completing the Sunshine Double though, losing to Petra Kvitova in the final of the Miami Open.