Picture Credit: Twitter
The 2024 professional pickleball tour will be joined by Eugenie Bouchard, a finalist at Wimbledon 2014. According to the Pickleball Association, Bouchard, a former No. 5 in the world, will begin playing pickleball professionally in 2024. However, it still remains unclear whether the Canadian tennis player will retire from the sport after making this shift.
Bouchard, who once held the fifth-highest ranking in the world, took the choice to join the 2024 circuit after another tennis player did the same. Jack Sock, a two-time Wimbledon doubles champion, last week announced that he was giving up tennis entirely to play pickleball.
Bouchard as well as the Professional Pickleball Association announced this decision in their respective social media handles. The image posted on Instagram was captioned “With one of the biggest signings of the year ✍️ Genie Bouchard, professional tennis star with a WTA #5 career high in singles, joins the PPA Tour in 2024! 👏”
The 29-year-old Bouchard has not yet commented on how this choice would impact her tennis career, which has been plagued by injuries ever since she first gained recognition in 2014. The Canadian astounded Grand Slam spectators that year, making it to the semifinals of the Australian and French Opens before falling to Petra Kvitova in the Wimbledon final.
On August 24, Bouchard was defeated by Dayana Yastremska in the second round of US Open qualifying. The defeat represented the 2014 Wimbledon finalist's fifth consecutive failure to earn a spot in the main draw of a major event, with her lone berth over the previous four seasons coming at the 2020 Roland Garros. Bouchard, who is ranked 215th in the world, last participated in a major tournament's main draw in 2020 at Roland Garros.
