Eugenie Bouchard shows interest in a new sport, tries her hand at padel

Eugenie Bouchard seems to have joined the padel bandwagon as she recently tried her hand at the popular racquet sport. It was her first time playing padel and she seemed to be having some fun while at it.

The Canadian tennis star has been hard at preparing for the 2023 tennis season over the last few weeks. After her latest practice session on the tennis court, the former Wimbledon finalist indulged in a bit of padel and made things interesting by playing left-handed.

"Some post tennis practice padel. My first time playing!!! And left handed lol," Eugenie Bouchard wrote on Instagram with a video of her padel session.

Eugenie Bouchard tries her hand at padel.

Padel's popularity has been growing at a rapid pace and 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal himself spoke about his liking for the racquet sport that bears resemblance to tennis. Padel is played on a hard surface and the usual court size is approximately 25% less than that of a tennis court. Nadal recently suggested that he could play padel a lot more actively after his retirement from tennis.

"I like sport in general. I play golf. I think I'll grab a padel racket, why not? I am sure that in the future I will have more time to enjoy other sports. Padel is growing and I think it will be fun because it's easier to play," Nadal said in an interview with Padel Magazine.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see whether Bouchard's first-ever experience of playing padel will motivate her to play again.

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Eugenie Bouchard returns to tennis action early ahead of 2023, joins star-studded line-up at World Tennis League

Eugenie Bouchard at WTA Guadalajara Open Akron 2022.

Eugenie Bouchard made it to Dubai this past weekend for the World Tennis League, a mixed-team exhibition event. She played her first match not long after reaching Dubai as she teamed up with Holger Rune to face Nick Kyrgios and Bianca Andreescu in a mixed doubles contest.

As she embarked upon her journey on Sunday, Bouchard suggested that her season had already started.

"Year starting early this year," the Canadian star wrote on Instagram stories.

Her tournament did not get off to its best start as she and Rune lost their doubles match. Iga Swiatek and Felix Auger-Aliassime are Bouchard's other teammates along with Rune in the World Tennis League. With the tournament scheduled to go on throughout the week, the 28-year-old will aim to get at least one win, if not more, under her belt before the new season.