After switching her focus from tennis to pickleball, Eugenie Bouchard has been busy honing her skills. After taking up the sport last season, she’s ready for her first major pickleball event in 2025, in California. Ahead of her anticipated Pickleball Slam 3 match with Andy Roddick against reigning champion couple Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, the Canadian WTA pro and 2014 Wimbledon finalist is busy at the PPA Masters. And guess who she’s partnered with for this crucial tournament? Well, it’s none other than ex-ATP pro-Jack Sock!

It’s the first time both these tennis pros are teaming up, for the mixed doubles category at the Mission Hills Country Club. Among other competing players, they are probably the most renowned tennis faces. They will try to show their pickleball skills to prove that their decision to make a switch from tennis was worth it. Sock made his pickleball debut in 2023 while Bouchard started venturing into the fast-growing sport just last year.

Ahead of their first match in the PPA Tour Masters, Bouchard revealed her true feelings about teaming up with Sock. When asked “What do you guys think your tennis friends would say about you guys playing?” she playfully replied “Oh my god. These are hard-hitting questions. They would probably laugh at us.”

Meanwhile, her partner also chimed in and added his reactions. “We’ve known each other for a long time. Obviously started in tennis. Now we’re here on the 20x44s and yeah we’re both enjoying pickleball. We’ve crossed paths on the tennis tour a few times. Had some fun dinners, group dinners with a bunch of players. Now we’re out here looking forward to playing mixed together for the first time on the pickle court. And yeah should be a fun week,” he said. Additionally, Sock also revealed how eagerly he was missing playing at the All England Club after leaving tennis. But why?

“We both miss Wimbledon a lot so we just wanted to play together and wear the all whites this week,” he said. “And he asked me obviously,” Eugenie Bouchard intervened. Jack agreed. “I did. I did reach out first and do some damage. People are gonna be very scared of us.” “We gotta represent the tennis world,” Bouchard joined him.

Eugenie Bouchard and Jack Sock begin their PPA Tour Masters campaign on a winning note

The 30-year-old 2014 French Open semifinalist and former ATP player seems to be on the right path at the Mission Hills Country Club. After pairing up for the first time at the first major event of 2025, their mixed doubles team kickstarted the journey on a winning note. Playing against Camila Zilveti and Patrick Smith, they won the Round of 64 11-1, 11-2. Of course, both Sock and Eugenie Bouchard were seen sporting all-white attire, since the former American player wanted to make it happen, as mentioned above.

Going forward, Bouchard and Sock will now face AJ Koller and Meghan Dizon in the Round of 32. The PPA Tour Masters began on January 6 and will run till January 12. It will be interesting to see how Bouchard will keep on improving her pickleball skills. Her craze for this sport has been evident from her previous admissions.

“I was like, you know, ‘I’d love to challenge myself to try something new. And also to be a part of something that is so trending and growing so much, that was really appealing to me. It was also something I could do while still playing some tennis tournaments. So that’s why I was like, ‘Yeah, sign me up,” she said while speaking to Tennis.com in early 2024.

After the PPA Tour Masters, she will look to flaunt her talent in the trending sport during the Pickleball Slam’s third season next month. She and 2003 US Open winner Andy Roddick will play against Andre Agassi and Steffi Graff for attractive prize money of $1 million.