NEW YORK • Tennis star Eugenie Bouchard paid off her lost Super Bowl bet on Wednesday by joining blind date John Goehrke at a Brooklyn Nets National Basketball Association (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 Feb 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 came back 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 this year's 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, the Canadian 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 courtside, according to the New York Daily News. The Bucks won 129-125.
With Atlanta holding a three-touchdown edge, Bouchard was confident enough in a Hawks win on Feb 5 to start sending Twitter messages predicting victory.
"I knew Atlanta would win btw," the 2014 Wimbledon finalist 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?" he asked.
"Sure," she replied, although she shot down a second such suitor with merely "C'mon..."
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."
Goehrke told the Kansas City Star last week: "I just thought to myself, it's not over.
"That idea kind of just popped in my head, so I went through with it.
"I thought maybe there was a chance she would respond, but I thought there was no chance she'd actually agree to it."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
