How Eugenie Bouchard went from Wimbledon to pickleball

Eugenie Bouchard seemed destined for great things when she burst onto the tennis scene, but never fully lived up to those high expectations.

The Canadian struggled to maintain her level after a good start to her career and, at 29, is surprisingly already at the end of her professional tennis adventure. This is Bouchard's story.

Bouchard was born on 25 February 1994 in Montreal, Canada.

She started playing when she was five and grew into one of the best tennis juniors in the world.

In 2012, she became the junior Wimbledon singles champion, beating Elina Svitolina in the final.

Although Bouchard had been active on the professional circuit since 2009, she experienced her breakthrough in 2013.

She showed promise in the Grand Slams by reaching the second round at the French Open and the US Open, and the third round at Wimbledon.

At the 2013 HP Open, she reached her first WTA singles final, which she lost to Australia's Sam Stosur.

But the best was yet to come for Bouchard, who won the WTA Newcomer of the Year award that year.

After the 2013 season, Bouchard decided to try something else than tennis and appeared on CTV Montreal as a weather anchor.

2014 marked Bouchard's biggest Grand Slam successes. The Canadian started the year in style with a run to the semi-finals at the Australian Open, where she lost to China's Li Na.

She then took her good form to the Nürnberger Versicherungscup, where she won the only WTA singles title of her career.

Next up was the French Open. Bouchard enjoyed a great unbeaten run in Paris until Maria Sharapova eliminated her in the semi-finals.

The icing on Bouchard's 2014 cake was reaching the final of Wimbledon, where she took on Petra Kvitová and eventually lost after three sets.

That same year, she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 5 and qualified for the WTA Finals. She ended the year world No. 7.

In 2015, Bouchard lost to Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, her best result in the majors that year.

At the US Open, she made it to the fourth round, but was forced to withdraw after reportedly sustaining a concussion in the locker-room after slipping. Bouchard sued the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and both parties reached a settlement.

By then, Bouchard had dropped in the rankings, finishing 2015 as world No. 48 and 2016 as world No. 47.

2018 would mark a further decline for Bouchard, who dropped out of the top 100, but ended the season world No. 89 after a good result at the Luxembourg Open.

In 2019, she would further drop in the rankings to world No. 224 after some disappointing results.

Bouchard reached two WTA finals in 2020 and 2021, but suffered a shoulder injury that needed surgery in June 2021 and ended her season.

Bouchard was not bored during her recovery, as she appeared as a commentator for The Tennis Channel.

Bouchard made her comeback in August 2022, at the Vancouver Open, after 17-months without playing. She finished the season world No. 323.

In 2023, Bouchard failed to make the main draw of the majors after she withdrew from the French Open and was eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the other Grand Slams.

Following her results in 2023, it was announced in September the same year that Bouchard will quit professional tennis and pursue a pickleball career from 2024.

Bouchard started her tennis adventure promisingly, ending up with a short-lived career, but will certainly try to make a name for herself in pickleball.