TORONTO -- Eugenie Bouchards best off-court memory in a season full of them was attending the 40-Love Party at Wimbledon. Rod Strickland Jersey . The party celebrated the 40th anniversary of the WTA, and 17 of the former No. 1-ranked female players -- from Chris Evert to Serena Williams and almost every top player in between -- were in attendance. It was one of those pinch-me moments for Bouchard, and said a lot about how far the rising Canadian tennis star had come. "Moments like that are really special to me, and obviously I was just happy to be invited there," Bouchard said in a conference call Thursday from her training base in Florida. A day earlier, the 19-year-old from Montreal was named WTAs newcomer of the year after reaching at least the quarter-finals five times in the 2013 season. Bouchard is ranked No. 32 in the world, tops among teenagers and Canadians. She reached her first WTA final in Osaka last month before losing to Samantha Stosur. Bouchard beat Stosur earlier in the year, her first victory over an opponent ranked in the top 10. She also beat No. 10 Jelena Jankovic as part of an impressive year. The young Canadian cant pinpoint any one thing that led to her swift rise through the ranks this past season. "I think its a bunch of factors, not something specific," she said. "Its really my first full year on the pro tour, I learned a lot. Playing week in and week out against great players, and even great champions, is really tough, and it makes you mentally though. I think that helped me improve, and gave me a lot of experience for the rest of the year, so those big matches helped me a lot." Bouchard earned US$415,742 in prize money in 2013 by going 39-24 in singles play and 6-8 in doubles. Bouchard was the first Canadian to win the award since Carling Bassett in 1983. "To be the second Canadian only is a cool thing I think, and obviously its a great award and its an honour to be named the Newcomer of the Year. So Im proud of that," said Bouchard. While she raced more than 100 spots up the rankings this season, she knows next season is going to be a crawl. The higher she goes, the more difficult it is to move. "And then each small move, each small jump is more significant," she said. "Strategy-wise, I have my coach (Nick Saviano) and Im just going to train really hard in this off-season and try to improve. I dont think theres a secret recipe, just a lot of hard work will definitely go into it on the practice court and then once Im in matches as well, really work hard and try to be the best I can be." While Bouchard has become more comfortable as shes gained experience on the tour, she said theres no sense of "been there, done that." "I think its hard to have that feeling . . . when you walk onto the grounds at the Australian Open or any Grand Slam or any tournament for that matter," Bouchard said. "Tennis is what I love doing, so Im never going to get bored of it, and Im never going to feel like Im tired of it. "Im saying that now, but maybe when Im ready to retire at 30, maybe Ill have that feeling. But for now, its what I love doing, I cant think of doing anything else, and Im just going to go into every tournament with the same energy and motivation that Ive always had and always will have." Wizards Jerseys China . - The Kansas City Royals are hoping All-Star catcher Salvador Perez will be back in a few days. Isaac Bonga Jersey . He had spent 16 days on the disabled list before being activated Thursday. He was batting just .203 when he came to bat in the 11th inning on Sunday. https://www.cheapwizardsonline.com/1049k-mitch-kupchak-jersey-wizards.html .com) - A top-10 showdown is on tap in at the McKale Center on Saturday, as the 10th-ranked Arizona Wildcats play host to the eighth-ranked Utah Utes in a key Pac-12 matchup.University football has started in Canada. Last week, the OUA kicked off with some games, this week Canada West and the Quebec Conference go at it. And next week, the four-team Atlantic conference will begin play. To no ones surprise, Laval is the top-ranked team in the nation. Laval has started seven of the last nine seasons in the number one spot and the other two times they were in second spot. One of those times was last year when they were second to McMaster to whom they had lost the 2011 Vanier Cup, 41-38 in overtime. Laval has been in four Vanier Cups in the last five years, a mark only done by the Saint Marys Huskies, who appeared in three in a row and won two of them. I can pull out last years column or the year before or the one before that because its the same year after year. In brief, the Laval Rouge et Or are strong. The have depth, experience and usually get the recruits that they want. The Rouge et Or are the defending CIS champions, winning an unprecedented seventh national crown since 1999 with head coach Glen Constantine becoming the first man to coach six Vanier winners, all with Laval. Laval is solid everywhere. They have a glorious past but Constantine doesnt dwell on it, in fact he doesnt wear any of his six Vanier Cup rings. "The rings stay in a drawer and maybe when I am done as a coach, I will look back fondly on all of them," he said. As for the current year, he says "every year is different and we always lose veterans and get new talent. Its challenging and interesting and I always enjoy it." Other teams from Quebec in the top 10 include the Montreal Carabins and Sherbrooke Vert et Or. Sherbrooke has steadily improved over the years while the Carabins seem to be the only team that can beat Laval or stay close to them in conference tilts. Its been years since Laval has lost a home conference game and that was to Montréal on September 19th 2004, losing a 14-13 squeaker. In fact, they havent lost since. Thats almost a decade of home field wins. Simply amazing. The proverbial question is not will Laval win the conference but will they lose a single game on the road or at home. In Ontario, there are four teams from this conference in the top ten. Western University, coached by Greg Marshall, always seems to be there. Another, McMaster has been a power for five straight years under coach Stefan Ptaszek. They have been in the Vanier Cup the last two years, winning in 2011. Guelph came out of nowhere to make the conference final last season and have many returnees. And every four or five years, Queens has a really strong team and this year seems to be the case. "Weve got a great group of returning seniors, some were here during our Vanier Cup season (they won the Vanier in 2009, beating Calgary 33-31)," heead coach Pat Sheahan said. Bernard King Jersey. "Weve had solid recruiting classes since and have built a competitive nucleus. And, there are a number of big-play guys on this club. We play McMaster on Monday so we will know if were for real or not." They must have a good club to start the season as the #2 team in the nation. Also theres a new team in the Ontario conference as the Carlton Ravens are back in the fold after a 15-year absence and coach Steve Sumarah is getting ready for a "learning experience". "This is a very strong conference with some of the top teams in the country so Im sure we will get our knocks but I see us growing in the next few years," Sumarah said. Sumarah is the former head coach of the Saint Marys Huskies. In fact, the last time an Atlantic school made it to the Vanier, Sumarah led SMU against Western in 2007. They won the Uteck Bowl by upsetting Laval, 20-2. Out west, the Calgary Dinos have won five straight Canada West titles for the first time ever under head coach Blake Nill, who is glad to be placed as the third-ranked team but admits it could be hard to repeat. Nill keeps hearing the names of his former payers on CFL on TSN broadcasts. "Weve had great success in the last five years and there are around nine guys playing in the CFL such as Edmontons Nate Coehoorn, Calgarys Matt Walter and Anthony Parker," said Nill. The first overall pick in this years CFL draft was Calgary Dinos lineman Lindon Gaydosh. But Nill sees Saskatchewan and Manitoba as strong teams out west. "The Saskatchewan Huskies are always strong and I hear this season Manitoba is up there," said Nill. And, in Atlantic Canada there is not one team ranked in the top ten for the first time ever. "That is not surprising," said Jeff Cummins, who coaches the defending Atlantic champions Acadia but his Axemen have lost a lot of seniors, including MVP quarterback Kyle Graves. Saint Marys which usually gives Acadia its best battle and may be the favourite in this conference, reason being they may have one or even two good quarterbacks. "Last year, senior Jack Creighton got knocked out for the season in the first game of the year. Creighton is trying to make a comeback following neck surgery and we have Ben Rossong, who transferred from Western but could not play last season," head coach Perry Marchese said. In a conference that has very limited quarterbacking talent now that Acadias Graves is no longer a force, Rossong may be the QB to watch. The Atlantic conference hasnt made the Vanier Cup since 2007 and have been soundly beaten in the national semifinal the last five seasons and that may well be the case this year. For TSN.ca, Im Alex J. Walling Alex j can be reached via email at: ajw@eastlink.ca ' ' '