Tennis babe crowned most marketable athlete in world no longer has WTA ranking

Tennis star Eugenie Bouchard was once crowned the most marketable athlete in the world but now she no longer has a WTA ranking after going 12 months without a game.

The 28-year-old suffered a nasty shoulder injury during the Guadalajara Open in June last year and is yet to make a full return to the sport as she tries to build fitness and return to the WTA rankings. Eugenie, better known as Genie, become the first Canadian-born player to represent the country in the final of a Grand Slam tournament in singles when she reached the 2014 Wimbledon final where she came runner-up to Petra Kvitová.

Following her rise to tennis stardom at just 20-years-old, it has been a difficult year as she still awaits her return to the much-loved sport and it was just 12 months after her run to the final of Wimbledon when she was labelled the most marketable athlete in the world after she had secured deals with the likes of Nike and Coca Cola.

SportsPro announced that she was seen as the world's most marketable athlete ahead of Neymar Jr, Steph Curry and Cristiano Ronaldo in what was a massive statement for such a young star.

Fast forward seven years and Genie is now battling to set the world on fire like she did as a fresh-faced youngster. With the tennis babe having reached eight singles finals in nine years, and won one, she is struggling to get back into the top rankings. Just yesterday she withdrew from this year's Wimbledon tournament, with her posting the news across her social media channels.

Do you think Genie Bouchard lived up to the hype from when she first burst onto the scene? Let us know in the comments section below.

She wrote: "Hi guys, quick update on my end. I have decided to withdraw from Wimbledon due to the WTA's decision to not award ranking points at this year's Championships. Due to my shoulder surgery, I get a limited number of protected ranking (PR) entries. As much as I love Wimbledon and skipping it makes me sad, using a PR entry at a tournament with no ranking points doesn't make sense.

"I must choose wisely and use my PR entries at tournaments that will help me get back to where I want to be. I am continuing my training/rehab and plan on returning to competition later this summer. I will now use my two Grand Slam PR entries for the US Open and the Australian Open.

"Thank you for all the amazing messages of support. I love you guys and can't wait to see everyone again soon."

The men's ATP and women's WTA both stripped the Grand Slam of ranking points after the organisers took the decision to ban participation by Russian and Belarusian players following Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

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