Wednesday marked a significant milestone in Eugenie Bouchard‘s career as she embarked on her professional pickleball journey. The former Wimbledon finalist made her debut at the PPA Hyundai Masters in Palm Springs with a mindset of zero expectations. Despite facing defeat in all three of her matches, the Canadian athlete maintains a positive outlook, emphasizing that she was at least able to secure some points during the challenging competition.
The pickleball debut was a short, yet nerve-wrecking and stressful experience for Bouchard. The tournament website reports that she kept forgetting which side of the court to line up on and spent a lot of energy “just working on logistics and the setting of the game.”
In the women’s singles category, Bouchard faced a defeat against Ekaterina Biakina with a scoreline of 11-1 11-7. In women’s doubles, where she teamed up with Chao-Yi Wang, the duo experienced elimination at the hands of Malia Lum and Trang Huynh-McClain. Further in mixed doubles, Bouchard, paired with Tyler Loong, encountered another setback, succumbing to Marietta Wright and Pablo Tellez.
Reflecting on her performance, the former WTA world No.5 remarked:
I need to get some practice in and some more matches in. I need to get out there in the heat of the moment….
