Eugenie Bouchard's tennis career took off in 2014. Her brand appears ready to follow suit in 2015.
The 20-year-old Canadian who appeared in the semifinals of the first three Grand Slam tournaments of 2014, including the Wimbledon finals, has signed with sports and entertainment talent agency WME-IMG, The Globe and Mail reported.
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Bouchard, who dumped Lagardere - the agency that represented her since she was 13 - now will be work with agents Jill Smoller and Brad Slater.
Smoller represents Pete Sampras, Kevin Garnett, Tim Tebow, Dennis Rodman and a certain No. 1-ranked women's tennis player and 18-time Grand Slam champion - Serena Williams.
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Slater's clients include Kevin Costner, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Ben Affleck.
"I am really excited about joining WME-IMG, a company that is in the best possible position to help me achieve my business goals and maximize the value of my brand," Bouchard said in a statement.
WME-IMG also represents No. 2 Maria Sharapova and men's No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
"It's highly significant, since IMG have a really good track record of signing the best - particularly the best golf and tennis players in the world and identifying them early - so clearly they see Bouchard as a future Grand Slam winner," said Nigel Currie, director of Britain-based sports marketing agency brandrapport.
Bouchard started the season ranked 31st in the world but ascended to as high as No. 5 before ending the year at No. 7.
"There is no shortage of major male global superstars, but there aren't nearly as many women, so when one comes along - as we've seen with Sharapova - it opens up a whole raft of opportunities," Currie said. "I would expect for Bouchard down the line deals like watches, cosmetics, luxury jewelery, likely developing her own line, much the same as Sharapova. It's a very competitive global marketplace, and IMG are dealing with the very biggest brands all the time."
Perhaps, it's all part of Bouchard's plan to get closer to teen idol Justin Bieber, to whom she admitted an attraction at the Australian Open.
Recently, she told Hello! Canada that she still supports the singer.
"I think he has a really inspiring story and I think it's really cool how he came from a really small town and became the world's biggest superstar. He's been in some trouble, but everyone deserves a second chance; I'm sure he'll mature."
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