Glamorous tennis star Eugenie Bouchard is officially set to bring the curtain down on her on-court career at the age of just 31.
Bouchard shot to fame after making the Wimbledon final in 2014 – the first Canadian-born Canadian to do so.
However, after struggling with form and injuries in recent years, the Canadian has confirmed she is set to retire – and on home turf no less.
Bouchard will play in the National Bank Open in Montreal later this month before ending her career, Tennis Canada said Wednesday.
The organization said Bouchard would be given a wild card into the tournament in her hometown.
‘You’ll know when it’s time. For me, it’s now,’ Bouchard posted on social media, along with pictures of herself playing throughout the years. ‘Ending where it all started: Montreal.’
Bouchard reached No. 5 in the WTA rankings and in 2014 won her lone singles title. She lost to Petra Kvitova in the Wimbledon final after also reaching the semifinals that year at the Australian Open and French Open.
She got back to the quarterfinals in Australia in 2015, but her career was never the same after she slipped on a wet locker room floor at the U.S. Open later that year and suffered a concussion that forced her to withdraw before her fourth-round match.
She sued the US Tennis Association and a jury found that the organization was 75 percent at fault and she was 25 percent to blame.
Bouchard helped Canada win its lone Billie Jean King Cup title in 2023 but has mostly switched to pickleball , playing just one match on tour this season. She has a career singles record of 299-230.
‘She has been one of the most important figures in the history of our sport in Canada and a trailblazer who redefined what Canadian tennis could be,’ said Valerie Tetreault, the National Bank Open tournament director. ‘We are proud of everything she has done, as a player and role model, and we can’t wait to see her in action one last time at IGA Stadium this summer.’
Bouchard burst onto the scene thanks to her 2014 final appearance at SW19, which she ultimately lost to Petra Kvitova.
That year, she would also record her tournament best finishes at each of the Australian Open (semi-final), French Open (semi-final) and US Open (fourth round), at one point reaching No 5 in the world.
However she would never reach the same heights again, dropping away and proceeding to encounter more than her fair share of injury problems throughout her career.
And as she plummeted down the world rankings, Bouchard began to pursue more high-profile endeavors away from the court.
She made the top 10 of Forbes’ World’s Highest-Paid Female Athletes list in 2017 and 2018.
However, in a 2024 interview with The Times, she opened up on the ‘hate’ she received for her activity on social media, having been part of a number of sponsorship campaigns and attended her fair share of A-list events during her career.
‘Back in the day, I could train six hours during the day before later posting on social media about being at the movies and I would get hate,’ she said. ‘It was like, well, social media isn’t an exact representation of my day.
‘It’s great that the world has changed over the past ten years and now not only is it acceptable to do off-court things, it’s actually encouraged. Back in the day, I felt like I was being shoved into a box, like you can’t do anything besides tennis. I was like, tennis has given me opportunities to explore the fashion world, TV and all these other things. Why would I say no? We’re talking about my life in its entirety here.
‘I would get so much hate for doing anything other than tennis. It was a burden I would bear on my shoulders and it was really hard. At least it’s more accepted now. Not that I was the only pioneer to do these things but I feel like I made it a little bit more normal.’
The National Bank Open is set to begin on July 26.
