Eugenie Bouchard suffered a bizarre injury that led to her being hospitalised after a pickleball training session.
Having originally made her name in tennis, Bouchard has found success with a different kind of racket in recent years, after trying her hand at pickleball.
It’s similar to padel – the two vs two small court game that is rapidly increasing in popularity across Europe and beyond.
But unlike padel, which uses a depressurised tennis ball to achieve a lower bounce, pickleball is played with a plastic ball instead.
And it was the harder plastic ball that did the damage for Bouchard, who picked up a nasty injury after it slapped her in the face.
Commenting on social media, Bouchard posted: “Got hit in the eye with a pickleball during training today.
“It was a shank off my partner’s paddle straight into the eye. Went to urgent care and have a scratched cornea.
“The things we do for this sport! Will be healed in a matter of days.”
The ex-Wimbledon finalist accompanied the post with two photographs. One depicts Bouchard with a painful-looking eye and the second of her post-checkup sporting an eye mask.
Bouchard is a regular on the pickleball tour, having taken up the sport competitively last year.
But the former world No.5 has admitted she’s still keen to focus on both sports.
Speaking to Tennis Insider Club, Bouchard revealed: “At the beginning of the year I focused more on pickle just because it was the new thing and I wanted to improve, because I was not great.
“But I just didn’t want to let go of tennis completely for sure, so I’ve played a few tournaments this year. It’s obviously tough – if I’m not playing full-time on the tour, it’s hard to have goals and expectations. I just really enjoy playing and I want to just keep that option there. I just love it so much.”
“Juggling both tennis and pickleball is no easy feat, and Bouchard is carefully planning her schedule to manage the dual commitment. She’s striving to maintain a sensible calendar but remains uncertain about how long she can sustain the balance.
“It’s hard to kind of transition between the two so I did two tennis in a row, now I’ll do a couple of pickle in a row,” she explained. “I kind of do like groups because going back and forth is just so hard and I’d rather not have to switch too many times during the year.”
