"It's so annoying" - Eugenie Bouchard speaks on irritating Sharapova moment

Tennis star Eugenie Bouchard opened up about a moment with retired Russian pro Maria Sharapova that left the Canadian annoyed, according to a recent interview on a podcast.

In an appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, Bouchard spoke on some of her experiences while on the WTA Tour. The 28-year old was asked several questions, one of which came from the podcast hosts.

"Have you ever played a warm-up with anyone and they were just being a d*ck?", asked the host.

"Oh yeah, Sharapova," Bouchard replied. "She just tries to hit the ball as hard as she can in the warm-up. It’s so annoying. She’s trying to intimidate you but it didn’t work on me."

The former World No.5 was asked whether she thought about complaining to the chair umpire.

"The umpire can’t force you to do anything," she continued. "Ultimately the umpire can’t force the person to warm up. You could just walk on the court and decide not to warm up if you don’t want to but normally most of us just do some easy rallying to feel good and some try to do winners and try hit as hard as they can."

The 2014 Wimbledon runner-up and the Russian met five times on tour, with Sharapova winning four of them. However, Bouchard won their last meeting at the 2017 Madrid Open, defeating Sharapova in a heated three set encounter.

"Unfortunately we can’t play anymore," added Bouchard. "I mean, she’s a great competitor and we had battles for sure but uh no we can’t play anymore. She’s retired."