Eugenie Bouchard Fined After Heated Incident With Teammate At Pickleball Event

Eugenie Bouchard's pickleball career created attention after she and another player were docked some of their appearance fees.

Bouchard was once considered a realistic contender to win multiple tennis Grand Slams. The Canadian reached the 2014 Wimbledon final as a 20-year-old, and semifinals at the Australian Open and French Open during the same year.

Things did not pan out as many expected. Bouchard has not reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam since the 2015 US Open, and tumbled down the rankings. She then suffered injury issues in the latter part of her tennis career.

Bouchard eventually decided to start playing pickleball instead. Although not officially retired from tennis, it is challenging to see how the 31-year-old can fight her way back after being away from the WTA Tour for so long.

The Wimbledon runner-up is a decent pickleball player and has enjoyed wins against some of the best in the sport. However, Bouchard's performance level is not what attracted recent attention.

It was recently reported that Bouchard and Jessie Irvine were docked 25% of their appearance fees due to their role in a controversy that occurred last weekend when they were playing for the Phoenix Flames.

Erik Tice, writing for the pickleball website The Dink, was on-site for what happened. Irvine did not like how Bouchard, who was on the Phoenix Flames team with Irvine, warmed up for their next match of the tournament.

That led to heated words between Bouchard and Ervine. An enraged Ervine then left the facility hosting the event, and Tice did not see her again for the rest of Saturday.

Irvine returned on Sunday and played a match alongside a different member of the Phoenix Flames team, pulling off an upset win against the pair from the Columbus Sliders. Despite this, questions remain about whether Bouchard and Irvine should stay on the same team.

Tice thinks there is a high probability of Irvine being traded to another team. Her or Bouchard moving elsewhere might be the only option unless the two women can resolve their differences and forget the incident.

Despite Bouchard playing pickleball regularly, she and Andy Roddick lost Pickleball Slam 3 to Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. The married tennis legends are much older than Bouchard and Roddick, but they showed superior craft during the contest.

Bouchard also generated attention last year after her appearance on Caroline Garcia's Tennis Insider Club Podcast. The Canadian discussed her mental health challenges as a tennis player, and she found it challenging to cope.

During that appearance, Bouchard noted that mental health was not talked about in the way it is now at the height of her tennis career. Perhaps the former WTA world No. 5 would have stayed the course better if her challenges at the time were better understood.

Bouchard is one of many players who have spoken about mental health issues in the last 12 months. Grigor Dimitrov also did so, hoping his words would encourage men to talk if they are struggling.