‘We’ll see where that goes,’ says Genie Bouchard of dating in the age of coronavirus

Many aspects of life have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but perhaps few more so than dating.

While lockdown restrictions have meant people can’t meet in person, dating has taken to the internet, with first dates taking place over Zoom and Skype rather than in bars or restaurants.

That’s true for tennis star Genie Bouchard, but all in the name of charity.

The Canadian agreed to go on a virtual date with comedian Bob Menery following a series of requests from him during an Instagram Live interview of Bouchard by Allie LaForce.

Menery agreed to donated $4,000 to charity in exchange for a date with Bouchard, and the pair had their virtual first date last week.

On top of that and as part of her “All-In Challenge,” Bouchard auctioned off dinner and a trip to a tennis tournament, with the winning bidder having to pay $85,000 to accompany her, with donations raising money for organizations providing relief during the coronavirus pandemic.

And although her fans were clamoring for word on when the second date would be, the 26-year-old is both playing it cool and looking forward to a date with Menery in person.

“Calm down guys! You can’t act too eager,” she told CNN Sport’s Amanda Davies in an Instagram Live chat. “You have to play it cool. “Maybe I’ll say I’m busy, give it say another week, even though we have nothing to do.”

“I agreed to a live date so when things are possible and somehow our schedules overlap, we will go on a second date, but a first real date. We’ll see where that goes.”

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Bouchard returns the ball to Anastasija Sevastova during their Women's Singles first round match during day one of the 2019 US Open.

‘A waste of time’

While social media has its positive side, Bouchard acknowledges that negative comments directed at prominent figures are commonplace. She is an active social media user herself. In fact, she took to Twitter last month to complain that quarantine “would be a lot more fun with a boyfriend.”

But the 2014 Wimbledon finalist calls the negative comments that she receives “tough,” and advises others to look for the positives that social media has to offer.

“There’s a lot of positive out there,” Bouchard – who calls reading the negative comments “a waste of time” – said. “And I realize that everybody has haters.

“It means you stood up for something in your life, it means you’ve done something in your life.

Bouchard celebrates a point win against Alize Cornet.

“Try to take it as a reverse-compliment and just realize it’s someone who maybe has their own issues or is mean or negative and you shouldn’t worry about someone like that. You shouldn’t worry about their opinion, so I really try to take a step back from it and not take it personally.”

As a 26-year-old, Bouchard says many of her peers are active on social media, after growing up with Facebook and with Twitter and Instagram arriving a little later, which makes the questions she gets from people about why she is so active online surprising to her.

“It’s only natural for someone my age to be active on social media. Why it is such a big deal?

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“I think the most important thing is to not hate back. To accept it for what it is and understand that it’s more of a reflection of them and how they’re feeling and not that you’re a horrible person. It’s hard because there’s so much negativity out there.”