Battle of the sexes...in pickleball?: Eugenie Bouchard enters debate with Nick Kyrgios challenge

Amid the recent back and forth between Christian Alshon with Nick Kyrgios, Andy Roddick and James Blake, Eugenie Bouchard is the first tennis player turned pickleball pro to weigh in and challenge one of the trio.

Bouchard has struggled at times during her much discussed pickleball switch. The former Wimbledon finalist switched at the end of 2023 while never formally confirming she was done with tennis. She beat sixth seed Lauren Stratman 1`1-5, 7-11, 11-0 to reach the Quarter-Finals in North Carolina ironically close to the ongoing Charleston Open.

Asked about Kyrgios' war of words with Alshon, she said that she wants to play Kyrgios and show him that the two sports are completely different. Having struggled with pickleball after likely thinking it was a lot simpler than it was, Bouchard knows this too well.

Others including Jack Sock and Sam Querrey have both thrived and struggled at times as former top players who achieved a myriad of success on the ATP Tour.

So it is not uncommon. Alshon asked the trio to put their money where their mouth is with a $100,000 wager to which James Blake responded with reasons why it couldn't happen.

“Yes. Um I mean I’d love to play him out on the pickleball court like come out here Nick, let’s go," said Bouchard as per PPA Tour. "All of them will see that the skill is different, especially at the net like the soft touch game, the dinks, the drops, that is so different than tennis. Especially for me, I wasn’t exactly known for my touch games, so that like, working on that has been probably the toughest challenge.”