Eugenie Bouchard, 'cutest thing on Earth,' set to rake in big bucks

Canada AM: Bouchard, a marketer's dream? Marketing expert Tony Chapman explains how Eugenie Bouchard's success at Wimbledon will spin in to some great sponsorship deals.

Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard may be “the cutest thing on Earth,” according to William Shatner, but she’s also poised to become a multi-millionaire even if she loses the Wimbledon final this weekend.

Bouchard is the first Canadian tennis player ever to qualify for a Grand Slam final, and will play 2011 champion Petra Kvitova for the title on Saturday. Win or lose, Bouchard will vault into the top 10 in women’s tennis: to No. 7 if she loses, to No. 6 if she wins.

Also win or lose, Bouchard stands to rake in big money: the runner-up cheque at Wimbledon is C$1.5 million, while the winner banks more than C$3 million.

Montreal-born Shatner, who is in Calgary preparing to be Grand Marshal for the Stampede parade, said Friday he has been following his fellow Quebecer’s remarkable success on the WTA Tour this year.

“The cutest thing on Earth,” he told CTV News Channel of Bouchard. “What an ad for Canada. She should be Grand Marshal.”

While Bouchard may one day don a white cowboy hat at the Greatest Show on Earth, her on-court success will have the biggest impact on her pocketbook.

Glen Hodgson, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada and author of “Power Play: The Business Economics of Pro Sports,” says “the earnings potential of female tennis players is enormous.”

A player like Maria Sharapova, for example, who is currently ranked fifth in the world, made about $29 million last year, Hodgson told News Channel. That’s about $6 million in on-court earnings, and the came from rest from sponsorships, marketing and advertising contracts.

Players who consistently stay in the top-five rankings can make between $10 million and $15 million per year, or more, he said.

“So it’s really a matter of the sky’s the limit,” Hodgson told News Channel.

“Genie’s about to become a very rich young woman.”

While Bouchard’s on-court performance is what will first attract potential sponsors, she will have to be “a top three-to-five player on an ongoing basis to really have the drawing power,” Hodgson said.

“But it’s the whole package: it’s the look, it’s how well-spoken they are and Genie’s a very articulate young woman.”

Potential sponsors are likely writing up contract offers ahead of the championship match. As players such as Sharapova and the Williams sisters get older and their skills fade, “the sponsors will start looking for the bright new face,” Hodgson said.

“And for me, that’s Genie.”