After failing to qualify for Montreal Bouchard returns to commentary duties as comeback falls flat

Eugenie Bouchard worked as a commentator for SportsNet at the National Bank Open Montreal after her early exits in both singles and doubles.

A disappointing outing in her home country awaited Eugenie Bouchard. While there was speculation about a possible wild card for the main draw, she ultimately received an invitation only for the qualifying rounds.

The tournament organizers chose to allocate the main draw spots to three local players, namely Leylah Fernandez, Bianca Andreescu, and Rebecca Marino. Additionally, former world No. 1 players Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams were also given main draw entries.

Bouchard was drawn to face the third seed in the qualifying rounds, Danielle Collins. Despite managing to take a set off Collins, she eventually fell with a score of 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.

She was also paired with her compatriot Rebecca Marino for the doubles main draw, but they faced another early exit, losing in the first round to the sixth-seeded pair of Lyudmila Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko. The latter duo staged a comeback in the match to advance with a score of 6-7(6), 6-4, 10-8.

Despite her early tournament exits, Bouchard made the most of her time by joining the SportsNet team and providing commentary during the Montreal Open. She shared images on social media of herself commentating and expressed her excitement about returning to tennis commentary.

“Absolutely loved being back with the gang on @Sportsnet last night! Catch me again tonight at 7pm ET,” Bouchard wrote.

Bouchard is far from the level that propelled her to world No. 5 and allowed her to reach the final of the 2014 Wimbledon, where she was defeated by the Czech player Petra Kvitova. At 29 years old, Bouchard dropped out of the top 100 in 2019 and has since struggled to achieve positive results, currently holding the position of world No. 212.

In the upcoming weeks, Bouchard doesn't have any tournaments planned, which might provide her with the opportunity to return as a commentator for the Cincinnati Open or even the upcoming US Open. However, she has not confirmed anything regarding her involvement currently.