Bouchard pays off blind date bet at NBA game

NEW YORK: Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard paid off her lost Super Bowl bet Wednesday by joining blind date John Goehrke at a Brooklyn Nets NBA home game against Milwaukee. Goehrke, a 20-year-old University of Missouri student and New England Patriots supporter, won his dream date with Bouchard, who turns 23 on February 25, thanks to the Patriots’ record-setting rally to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51 earlier this month. The Montreal-born blonde predicted an Atlanta triumph on Twitter with the Falcons ahead 21-0 and her suitor pitched a date if the Patriots rallied to win. Bouchard agreed, only to then see Tom Brady lead the Patriots to a 34-28 comeback triumph. Bouchard, ranked 44th in the WTA rankings after a third-round run at the Australian Open, tweeted a photo of herself in a bikini on Wednesday morning saying she was honoured to have been included in the 2017 edition of the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She then tweeted: “Busy day with @si_swimsuit and then tonight... I’m going on a date” with a winking emoji. On Wednesday night, she tweeted a two-person selfie photo with her date saying, “Just met my ‘Super Bowl Twitter Date’ John. On our way to the @BrooklynNets game!” The two were sitting court side, according to the New York Daily News. Bouchard was confident enough in Atlanta’s victory on February 5 with a three-touchdown edge to start sending Twitter messages predicting victory. “I knew Atlanta would win btw,” she tweeted, later adding, “Just predicted the future.” That prompted TW1, a Twitter identity sporting a photo of a man in a Cleveland Cavaliers NBA jersey, to tweet Bouchard with a longshot bid of his own. “if patriots win we go on a date-” came the pitch. “Sure,” Bouchard replied, although she shot down a second such suitor with merely “C’mon...” As the Patriots made their successful fightback, Bouchard was asked by another tweeter: “are you getting nervous-!- Lol.” “Umm...kinda...,” she replied, adding later, “So...where do you live-” When the Patriots won the game, and their fifth title with Brady as quarterback, Bouchard could only manage letters: “Omfg.” “Lesson learned,” Bouchard followed with later. “Never bet against Tom Brady.” Realising she had become a big deal in the Twitter-verse, Bouchard made it clear the next day she would pay off. “Lol it made a Twitter moment,” she tweeted. “And I will do it, I stay true to my word.” — AFP