Eugenie Bouchard makes big tennis U-turn after quitting to play rival sport

Eugenie Bouchard is set for a surprise return to tennis after being given a wildcard to play in her first event since 2023. The one-time Wimbledon finalist decided to step away from the court after failing to qualify for that year's . Since then, she has switched her focus to pickleball, a rival sport which has experienced a surge in popularity as of late.

Pickleball involves two or four players hitting a hollow plastic ball with paddles and Bouchard has impressed since joining the professional tour. She is ranked 12th in the world and regularly features on the main court at pickleball events. Bouchard is not the only tennis player to have made the switch, with the likes of Jack Sock and Donald Young also crossing over in recent years.

However, a return to her former sport is on the horizon after she accepted a wildcard to play in a WTA 125 event. Bouchard is set to feature at the Hall of Fame Open, which will take place in the US state of Rhode Island at the start of July.

An official statement read: "Eugenie Bouchard is returning to tennis at the Hall of Fame Open! With a career highlighted by a Wimbledon final, multiple WTA titles and a global fanbase, Genie's return promises exciting matches and unforgettable moments."

Bouchard was ranked as high as fifth by the WTA at the height of her tennis career, shortly after reaching the Wimbledon final in 2014. On that occasion, she was beaten in straight sets by Petra Kvitova.

The Canadian recently if she could fit tournaments around her busy pickleball schedule.

Speaking to last year, Bouchard explained: "I'm going to put tennis tournaments in where I can fit them in my schedule. Tennis is what I love and what I still want to keep doing.

"The pickleball schedule is the priority but I do want to insert those tennis tournaments. I want to achieve whatever I can. I'm not doing a full-time tennis schedule, so of course, I need to understand that there will be limitations.

"I think I want to do as well as I can in each individual tournament and see where that goes. But I love tennis and it's not something I want to give up yet at all.

"The strategy is so different. For 25 years I was taught that a short ball is bad, but in pickleball, the little dinks are what you want. Rewiring my brain like that has been the hardest part because I'm so instinctive when I play tennis."