Genie Bouchard marks return to tennis with doubles win in Vancouver

After a 17-month layoff recovering from right shoulder surgery, Eugenie Bouchard is back playing tennis at the Odlum Brown VanOpen.

Bouchard opened the tournament Sunday night, teaming up with fellow Canadian Kayla Cross to defeat Italy's Lucia Bronzetti and Elisabetta Cocciaretto in a doubles match.

"The goal of surgery and coming back is to be able to play exactly how I want to and how I was playing before," said the former World No.5 after the match. "This is what we do as athletes. The point is not to practice all the time, the point is to play."

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Her first match left her exhausted physically and mentally, but Eugenie Bouchard couldn't be happier.

"I was exhausted," Bouchard said with a smile. "I started feeing tight in my body, my muscles were getting sore.

"It's just that mental focus. To play in a match is different than practice. It's about getting those reps in over and over again. I'll get the endurance from that and be able to get back to playing matches totally normal, but it's one baby step."

The Odlum Brown VanOpen ends Sunday. The tournament, which returns after missing two years due to COVID-19, has attracted 135 players to the Hollyburn Country Club battling for a combined purse of over US$274,360.

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Bouchard, who received a wildcard entry into the tournament, last played March 2021 at the Monterrey Open where she hurt her shoulder in a first-round match against Zhu Lin.

The 28-year old became the first Canadian to advance to the singles final at Grand Slam in 2014 when she lost in the final at Wimbledon to Petra Kvitova. She also reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and French Open that year.