Bouchard makes return to professional tennis
Former world No. 5 gets wild-card berth at VanOpen
VANCOUVER — Eugenie Bouchard makes her return to professional tennis at the WTA 125 event at West Vancouver’s Hollyburn Country Club this weekend.
Bouchard has been given a wild-card berth at the Odlum Brown VanOpen which runs Aug. 13 - 21.
Bouchard will play for the first time since sustaining a right shoulder injury at a March 2021 tournament in Mexico. She underwent arthroscopic surgery on the shoulder in June 2021.
The 28-year-old from Westmount, Que., reached her career high ranking during a breakout 2014 season that included an appearance in the Wimbledon final and the semifinals of the Australian Open and French Open.
Her Wimbledon appearance in 2014, marked the first time a player representing Canada made it to the final in singles play at a Grand Slam tournament.
The 2016 Canadian Olympian holds two career WTA titles, one in singles and one in doubles. Bouchard also has a dozen career wins over top-10 players including four victories against former World No. 1 Angelique Kerber.
Other players receiving Odlum Brown VanOpen main draw wild cards are Carol Zhao on the women’s side, and Alexis Galarneau and Gabriel Diallo on the men’s side.
Zhao was the number one ranked women’s player in Canada as recently as 2018, when her WTA ranking hit a career-high World No. 131. The 27-yearold from Richmond Hill, Ont. played at the last three editions of the to VanOpen, advancing to the semifinals in 2017.
The 23-year-old Galarneau is coming off an appearance in the final at last month’s Winnipeg National Bank Challenger. Diallo, like Zhao and Galarneau, is making a mark in US college tennis as he enters his fourth season at the University of Kentucky later this fall. In 2021-22, he appeared in every college tennis singles ranking, peaking at No. 4, and finishing the year at No. 8.
Tickets for this year’s tournament are available at vanopen.com/tickets.