Eugenie Bouchard made the journey from the baseline to the kitchen line. The former Wimbledon finalist swapped tennis’s grand stages for pickleball’s growing spotlight in 2024, testing herself in a sport she once called tennis’s “rival.” By October, she had reached her first women’s singles semifinal at the Las Vegas Open. After starting the year winless, she found rhythm late in the season, closing 2024 with a 15–8 record and rising to No. 19 on the PPA Tour. But despite the promising pivot, Bouchard made it clear: tennis was always her first love. There was hope she would return to the tennis circuit, but sadly, not anymore.

Fans held out hope when she was announced as a participant in the Luxembourg Ladies Tennis Masters, an eight-player invitational for WTA veterans scheduled for October 9–12. It was billed as her return to the court, a possible prelude to a full-fledged comeback.

Those hopes, however, were short-lived. This week, she made it official. “You’ll know when it’s time. For me, it’s now. Ending where it all started: Montreal ❤️,” she wrote in a farewell Instagram post.

Tennis Canada confirmed that she will receive a main draw wild card at this year’s National Bank Open in Montreal, where fans will have one final chance to cheer for their hometown star. It’ll mark Bouchard’s 15th career appearance at the Canadian tournament.

The 31-year-old enjoyed a rollercoaster ride on the WTA tour. Her high point came in 2014, when she reached the Wimbledon final, ultimately falling to Petra Kvitová. That same season, she also made the semifinals in Melbourne and Paris and qualified for the elite WTA Finals. She soared to a career-high ranking of No. 5 and captured her lone singles title at the Nuremberg Cup. But inconsistency and injuries led to long spells of struggle, and she tumbled down the rankings in the years that followed.

Just last week, Bouchard returned to the court for her first professional tennis event of the season at the WTA 125 in Newport. She lost in the opening round of singles to Anna Sinclair Rogers and exited in the second round of doubles, where she partnered with Olivia Lincer.

Still, she will still be active in a different sport.

Eugenie Bouchard opens up on unlearning tennis for pickleball

Many ex-tennis pros like Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Jack Sock and more have turned to pickleball. Eugenie Bouchard embraced the PPA Tour in 2024 and made it her new home, even if it meant starting from scratch.

At first, that meant unlearning everything she’d known. The racket was smaller, the court was different, and her instincts betrayed her. “I went 0–9 in my first nine matches and I felt like the expectations from the outside were different than that,” she said. More than once, she found herself hitting a classic tennis shot mid-rally and losing the point. The dink, a soft, strategic ball that drops in the kitchen, was now her secret weapon.

“It’s a totally different skill set,” Bouchard explained. “Change is hard, no matter what we’re talking about in life. It’s easier to just keep doing the same thing than to change, right?”

But she adjusted. And by November, one of her around-the-post winners had landed on SportsCenter’s Top 10. It’s clear she’s making space for something new. But first, she’ll step onto a tennis court one last time, in front of a Montreal crowd, where it all began. One final match. One final cheer. And then, she’s off to the next chapter.