Eugenie Bouchard's 2023 season got off to a bad start after the Canadian revealed the unfortunate reason she had to withdraw from her opening main draw match of the year at the ASB Classic.
Bouchard is undoubtedly hoping to put most of the previous two years behind her. She had shown signs of momentum in March 2021 by reaching the final of a WTA 250 event in Mexico, playing great tennis at the tournament.
Some were hopeful that Bouchard could recapture the level that memorably took her to the 2014 Wimbledon final. The 28-year-old has not lived up to the high expectations many in the media had after that success.
Unfortunately, Bouchard's chances of consistently playing her best tennis since that run at Wimbledon over eight years ago ended when she sustained a severe hip injury in the tournament after her appearance in the final in Mexico that kept her out for 17 months.
After returning, Bouchard mostly played at lower-tier tournaments, although she received a wild card into the Guadalajara Open, a WTA 1000 tournament showing the Canadian's star quality.
The seven-time WTA finalist seemed excited for the new season when she released a jersey with her name on the back for fans to purchase. Her dedicated fanbase reacted positively to the announcement.
Sadly, due to an illness, Bouchard had to withdraw from her match against Katie Volynets at the ASB Classic. The former world No. 5 revealed that in the early hours of Sunday, she had been puking throughout the night.
"Got really bad food poisoning Saturday night. Was up all night throwing up. So sad I had to withdraw from my match in Auckland. This is me waiting to see the doc Sunday morning."
"My attempt at dinner – Sunday night – only got through about five pieces of pasta. Slept 12 hours last night and feel so much better now (Monday). Is it a bad omen that I spent the first 8 hours of 2023 clinging to the toilet? Let me know," she wondered."
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