Eugenie Bouchard pulls out of National Bank Challenger due to illness
WTA
Former Wimbledon finalist, Eugenie Bouchard, has announced that she will be pulling out of National Bank Challenger event in Calgary next week, due to illness.
Bouchard made the announcement via a press release to the tournament, citing her disappointment at not being able to take part.
"I woke up this morning feeling sick, and I am not going to be able to play next week in Calgary. I am grateful to the tournament for offering me a wildcard and I am sad not to be able to participate. Competing on home soil is always special and look forwarding to competing in Canada soon", said Bouchard.
The news is a late blow to the tournament, whose home hope Bouchard was a main attraction. In a responding statement, tournament director Danny Da Costa said, "Today, we were advised by Genie’s agent, Chris McCormack from GSE Worldwide that Genie had to withdraw from our event due to illness. We were looking forward to having Genie with us in Calgary, but an athlete’s health is critical to peak performance, and we respect her decision to withdraw at this time".
While disappointing for the tournament and Canadian tennis fans, it will come as welcome news that fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil and former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki will be competing.
Former World No. 5 Bouchard has suffered a frustrating stop-start career since her breakthrough year in 2014, battling intermittent form with persistent injuries.
This season has been something of a reset for her, after confirming that she still wishes to play tennis and work to compete at a high level again, after many fans feared the Canadian would not return. But impressively, Bouchard has found her feet again on the tour this year, making inroads at some WTA tour level events and continuing to rebuild her game of the challenger circuit.
The once bright future star of Canadian tennis may well again be one to watch next year.
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