The Australian Open has started, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the Tennis season features the big names, as always. Some new players are anticipated to make waves, and Eugenie Bouchard from Canada is one of them.

Bouchard was recently named Canada's Athlete of the Year. She is the 30^th seeded in the tournament down under. Her looks don't hurt, but she wants to be known for her tennis skills. Winning her first grand slam tournament could help with that.  Sportsnet recently shared the story on how she got into Tennis:

"I started playing at five years old. I trained at a club right off Champlain Bridge (Nuns' Island), and I was there from basically five until 12. It's this massive club with 20 indoor courts, the biggest of its kind in North America. As I got older I was on the court more and more, I was playing a lot and started missing school. Then when I turned 12 I moved to Florida and started training there until 15.

I came back (to Montreal) because the National Training Centre had opened, and that was really a breakthrough for Canadian tennis. When I was younger we were doing everything independently-training, travelling. It was definitely tougher. I started training there the second year it opened (in 2008). There was a group of us, and we were able to have the same coach both in training and on the road, which was huge because it meant we could keep progressing while on the road. And financially, it allowed us to travel to the Australian Open and all of these junior tournaments that you needed to get out of Canada to play in. That was important. Just to play the Junior Slams and be there to experience that environment, to be having breakfast and two tables away it's like, 'There's Rafa!' You got a chance to see what a tennis player's life is like."

The result of her first match for her campaign to win her first Grand Slam Title was scary at first, but she recovered in the second set. From the Canadian Press: "Canadian Eugenie Bouchard survived a scare from a 431st-ranked challenger from China on Monday to reach the second round of the Australian Open, scoring a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Chen Tang Hao.

Bouchard, the 30th seed from Montreal, rode a roller-coaster in the one-hour opening set after earning a 3-1 lead, only to lose it a game later on a double-fault to her neophyte opponent."