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Eugenie Bouchard, Billie Jean King and others from the tennis community recently paid their respects to Pope Francis following his death. The 88-year-old Pope took his last breath on April 21, 2025.
Francis passed away at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta on Monday (April 21). His death was announced by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is the Camerlengo of the Roman Catholic Church. Following the announcement of this unfortunate news, the tennis community was quick to send their condolences.
One of the first personalities from the tennis world was Eugenie Bouchard, who shared a picture with Francis on her Instagram story that read:
Trending
"Probably the best selfie of my entire life @Pontifex."
She added:
"RIP🙏🙏🙏"
Billie Jean King also paid tribute to the Bishop of Rome by reposting Hillary Clinton's post on her Instagram story that read:
"In Pope Francis's last public address, he preached care of the marginalized, the vulnerable, and migrants, saying: 'I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves.' May we heed his wish."
Croatian tennis player, Donna Vekic, also shared a picture of Francis on her Instagram story with two emojis:
"🙏🕊️"
Along similar lines, Czech tennis player Barbora Krejcikova reshared the post of the Vatican News on her Instagram story and wrote:
"🕊️🖤"
She also shared another picture of her Vatican visit and wrote:
"#tb to 2017 and my Vatican visit🫶🏻"
Eugenie Bouchard made her feelings known about keeping her tennis career alive despite excelling in pickleball
After joining the Professional Pickleball Association, Eugenie Bouchard sat for an interview with the The Times in July 2024, where she opened up about her passion for tennis and how she wants to keep her tennis spirit alive despite having a good time in pickleball. She said (as quoted by the Mirror):
"I’m going to put tennis tournaments in where I can fit them in my scheduled. Tennis is what I love and what I still want to keep doing. The pickleball schedule is the priority but I do want to insert those tennis tournaments."
She added:
"I want to achieve whatever I can. I’m not doing a full-time tennis schedule, so of course I need to understand that there will be limitations. I think I want to do as well as I can in each individual tournament and see where that goes. But I love tennis and it’s not something I want to give up yet at all."
Eugenie Bouchard has won one singles title in her tennis career so far at the 2014 Nuremberg Cup and has also bagged a doubles title at the 2019 Auckland Open.
