Sun, Feb 16, 2025 page6

• Bouchard excited with what pickleball has to offer

  • AP
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  Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw.

  However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288).

  The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to the professional pickleball scene in another chapter of their careers.

  

  Eugenie Bouchard returns to Taiwan’s Wang Chao-yi in their Proton Tucson Open Women’s singles round of 16 match on Feb. 6.

  Photo: AP

  Bouchard’s year-long changeover has been filled with lumps and losses in a very public setting as she learns the ins and outs — drop shots are a good thing — of a game that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis.

  “I’m on center court,” Bouchard said ahead of “Pickleball Slam 3,” where she will team up with Andy Roddick today to take on Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf in a series of matches played in Las Vegas and aired on ESPN. “Not because of my skill level in pickleball, but because of what I achieved in tennis and what I’m bringing over from tennis to the pickleball world.

  “I didn’t like it at first because I was losing and I felt uncomfortable and awkward on the pickleball court. It was like, ‘Put me on the last court so no one sees the train wreck that’s about to happen,’ but I’ve slowly found my footing,” she said.

  Bouchard, who turns 31 on Feb. 25, was first approached by the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour in 2023 while at the US Open.

  The pitch to Bouchard: Help grow pickleball. Bouchard had played the sport with friends, but that was about it.

  “After we got off the phone, I was like, ‘She can make a difference in pickleball. She can really help bring us to another level as far as eyeballs,’” said Connor Pardoe, founder and chief executive officer of the Carvana PPA Tour.

  “When we understood that this is something Genie felt she can make a difference in and something that she really wanted to pursue and she wanted to give full effort, for us it was a no-brainer,” he added.

  Bouchard signed a three-year deal — terms were not disclosed — that included provisions so she can compete in tennis events.

  She has played a role in the popularity of the PPA Tour, which merged with Major League Pickleball (MLP) in February last year. The circuits saw more than 320,000 fans attend PPA Tour and MLP events last year.

  Bouchard is still looking for her first win on the tour, but she maintains her sense of humor — and style.

  Case in point: After her exit last weekend in Tucson, Arizona, Bouchard, who was playing in a yellow New Balance top and a green-patterned skirt, wrote on social media: “I may not have won the tournament, but at least I had the cutest outfit.”

  Her goals remain modest for pickleball, where she is 18-19 in singles, 8-18 in doubles and 8-19 in mixed doubles (she paired with Sock in mixed doubles last weekend).

  “Success is going to a tournament and leaving with at least a win,” said Bouchard, whose pink Versix Vector pickleball paddle is designed to take advantage of her tennis background.

  “For the first couple of tournaments, I would play singles, doubles and mixed doubles and be 0-3. There’s just something really defeating about flying to a city and being on that plane back having not even won one match. You’re like, ‘What am I doing here?’ So thankfully I started getting wins,” she said.

  Tennis remains in the picture for Bouchard, who broke onto the professional scene as a teenager and rose to No. 5 in 2014. That was a season where she made the Wimbledon final, losing 6-3, 6-0 to Petra Kvitova.

  Bouchard has earned US$6.9 million in prize money over a tennis career that has included plenty of highlights (a semi-finalist at the 2014 Australian Open and French Open, representing Canada at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics) along with some difficult times (shoulder surgery, settling with the US Tennis Association in a liability lawsuit).

  “I wouldn’t say burned out,” Bouchard said when asked about why she decided to incorporate pickleball into her tennis career. “I was just excited about a new opportunity.”

  Today is quite an opportunity, too — a chance to team up with Roddick in a featured pickleball match against Agassi and Graf, who are two of her tennis idols.

  “I don’t even know how I got invited,” Bouchard said. “It’s pretty crazy that I’m on the court with these three legends.”
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