Canadian tennis player Genie Bouchard had a tough go during her recent foray into professional pickleball. She lost all three of her matches, including one singles event and two doubles games, on her way to an early elimination.
Her singles match was over quickly as she lost in consecutive sets to Ekaterina Biakina, dropping the first one 11-1 before losing 11-7 in the second.
The matches were a part of the Hyundai Masters, a professional pickleball event on the PPA Tour. It was Bouchard’s professional debut in the sport and she plans to participate in a lot more tournaments moving forward throughout this year.
āIām going to play a bunch of events this year and the competitive person in me wants to do the best I can,ā Bouchard said in an article on PPATour.com. āI need to get some practice in and some more matches in. I need to get out there in the heat of the moment. The positive thing is, I got some points and didnāt completely embarrass myself. Iām proud that I was able to stay calm and get some points in that second game.”
Some of her limited highlights were posted to the PPA Tour Instagram page.
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The 29-year-old was clearly appreciative that some of her good moments were posted publicly as she commented “thanks for showing my best point šā¤ļø.”
She also got a social media shoutout from pro player Chao yi Wang who said that Bouchard is on her “way to becoming a great player.”
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Bouchard’s pickleball debut does not mean that her tennis career is over. She plans to juggle both for the time being. She is currently ranked 293rd in the world for singles by the WTA and has made nearly US$7 million in prize money throughout her tennis playing days.
To give Bouchard credit, she isn’t the only tennis player struggling with the pickleball transition. Sam Querry, former world No. 11 on the ATP Tour, lost in the play-in round at the Hyundai Masters, showing that it’s not so easy to jump from one sport to the other.
Despite the rough showing, Bouchard will not be giving up on the pickleball dream anytime soon.
āI expect to be more competitive in the next tournament, but gimme a full year.ā
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