Genie Bouchard does not drive and still eats baby food

Genie Bouchard is 20 years old, ranked No. 8 in the world in women’s tennis and plays with the maturity and mental approach of a veteran player. She is on magazine covers, newspaper covers and promoted heavily by the WTA Tour. She is being hailed as the next Maria Sharapova. And she still does not drive.

For all her seeming maturity, Bouchard does not have a driver’s license and says she eats baby food. Seriously.

These two great nuggets come from a New York Times profile on Bouchard:

She has refused to learn to drive — “It’s too scary” — which means that her mother still must accompany her almost everywhere.

For a snack, she often eats baby food, small jars of pears and even creamy rice cereals. She started eating them, like everyone else, as an infant, but never stopped.

Clearly Bouchard is still very much a kid at heart. In fact, in her recent Elle Quebec magazine cover story, she was asked her biggest fear.

“Getting older,” she said. “I swear, I’m really afraid of it.”

That seems pretty apparent. It also could explain why she still has a schoolgirl crush on Justin Bieber.

But don’t let any of this fool you; Bouchard is anything but immature on the court. She is motivated and driven to be one of the best tennis players in the world and is dead-set on winning her first major. She’s come close this year, having reached the finals at Wimbledon and semifinals at the French and Australian Open. She is earning her spot among the best in the world and will stay there for a long time.