Ex-Pro Turned Pickleball Expert Eugenie Bouchard Left Stunned After Astonishing USTA’s Stat Confirms Pickleball’s Popularity

“The most underrated player in pickle.” That’s Eugenie Bouchard’s surprising reaction to the sport’s recent milestone. As pickleball continues to rise, its connection to tennis becomes increasingly obvious. Known as a sister sport to tennis, pickleball has gained huge popularity in many countries, especially in the United States, with numerous tennis players developing a fondness for this emerging racquet sport. While these players often highlight how tennis remains a more established game, pickleball’s recent milestone has left many thinking about whether the sport can ever overtake tennis. Now, Eugenie Bouchard’s latest social media update has added more reason to the doubt, raising a question- will tennis be able to compete with pickleball in the future?

Bouchard has surprised the fraternity with her growing interest in pickleball, a sport rapidly gaining popularity in the United States. Known for an established tennis career, Bouchard became the first Canadian-born player to reach the Wimbledon finals in 2014 and made it to the semifinal at the Australian Open and Roland Garros the same year. Despite the Canadian’s success, including a 2023 Billie Jean King Cup victory, she has seemingly switched her interest.

Last year, she surprised the tennis world by showing a strong interest in pickleball, though she hasn’t left tennis behind. Bouchard joined popular tennis personalities like John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, and Maria Sharapova in their growing fondness for tennis’ sister sport. Today, a popular pickleball Instagram page shared an interesting story claiming that pickleball is rapidly increasing as a popular sport in the US.

“The U.S. Tennis Association has reported that nearly 10% of tennis courts in the United States have been converted or repurposed into pickleball courts. Lew Sherr, CEO of the USTA, acknowledged that with pickleball’s popularity surging by 223% in the past three years, there aren’t facilities available to accommodate both sports,” the post read, highlighting how Americans are choosing this new sport. Now, Bouchard shared the post on her Instagram story, adding a “😳” to express her shock.

Contrasting Bouchard’s enthusiasm, former ATP world No. 1 Novak Djokovic expressed concerns about tennis being overshadowed by pickleball and padel. Ahead of the US Open, he played the sport but also remarked, “Now we have the paddle or padel, as you call it in the States, that is growing and emerging, People kind of have fun with it and say, Yeah, but tennis is tennis.”

“Tennis is the king or queen of all the racket sports, that’s true. But on a club level, tennis is endangered. If we don’t do something about it, as I said, globally or collectively, padel, pickleball in States, they’re going to convert all the tennis clubs into padel and pickleball because it’s just more economical.” The Serb’s statement showcased how the shift toward Pickleball and padel is driven by their economic appeal. However, this appeal is threatening tennis’ dominance at recreational clubs.

Pickleball is proving to be more popular in North America than people anticipated earlier. Bouchard, after a year in the sport, admitted how the sport pushed her to spend more time on the court than expected, suggesting that Pickleball’s challenges might run deeper than they appear.

Eugenie Bouchard reveals why pickleball demands more time on court for her

Last year, during a video chat with Tennis.com, Bouchard made a surprising revelation. Her statement echoed that taking up this new sport was challenging for her. Although she had experience in tennis, that might not have helped her to shine in pickleball. “So many things that I would do in tennis are not what you want to do in pickleball, So it’s kind of like I have to rewire my brain and just spend a lot of time on the practice courts and playing matches until I finally got some wins,” she said. Her words highlighted how she had to practice hard to find the rhythm in this new sport.

In October, she reached the semifinals of her first professional pickleball tournament in Las Vegas. Despite her loss, she was excited about this new career milestone. “I’m so excited, I can’t tell you how happy I am,  I feel like I’m been putting in the hours and I’m so happy to see it paying off on the match court,” she said to the Pickleballtv. This Canadian star is gearing up to partner with Andy Roddick to play against the Agassi-Graf duo in the Pickleball Slam 3 next year.

Eugenie Bouchard’s newfound love of pickleball has helped her regain her tune in the racquet sport. While her road wasn’t easy, she worked hard to establish her skills. Today when pickleball’s popularity is growing all over the United States, people are acknowledging how stars like Eugenie Bouchard have contributed to popularizing this sport.