"Is this now a pickleball tournament?""Scraping the bottom of the barrel" - Tennis fans react to Eugenie Bouchard receiving Guadalajara Open wildcard

Eugenie Bouchard receiving a wildcard into the main draw of the 2023 Guadalajara Open has sparked displeased reactions from tennis fans.

The WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open is scheduled to be held in Mexico from September 17-23. With the tournament being held just one week after the conclusion of the 2023 US Open, several WTA top-10 players have chosen to withdraw from the event.

Notably, defending champion Jessica Pegula, reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka are all set to miss the action in Guadalajara. Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, Karolina Muchova and Marketa Vondrousova are also not on the tournament's entry list.

Ons Jabeur, Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia are set to headine the action in Guadalajara. Meanwhile, Eugenie Bouchard and Ajla Tomljanovic have received wildcards for the WTA 1000 event. This development comes shortly after Bouchard's decision to join the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) from next year.

Several fans reacted to the news of the Canadian's wildcard with derision, pointing to her decision to give up tennis for pickleball at the turn of the year.

"I thought she retired to play pickleball? Sounds like this tournament is desperate," one fan commented.

"Scraping the bottom of the barrel," one fan wrote.

"Is this now a pickleball tournament?" another fan chimed in.

Other fans claimed that Bouchard had only received a wildcard because of the absence of several big names from the WTA 1000 event. One fan even expressed relief that the top players are not on the "sinking ship."

"Thankfully most of the top players escaped this sinking ship called Guadalajara Open," one fan posted.

"With most of the WTA Top Ten cancelling last minute..... makes sense," another fan shared.

Here are a few more fan reactions:

Eugenie Bouchard to lock horns with Renata Zarazua in Guadalajara Open 1R

Eugenie Bouchard

Eugenie Bouchard will kick off her campaign in Mexico against home favorite Renata Zarazua in the first round of the 2023 Guadalajara Open. Zarazua leads 2-0 in her head-to-head against Bouchard, having won both their previous encounters at the WTA 125 tournaments in Prague and Tampico.

Should the Canadian claim her first-ever win over the Mexican, she will set up a clash with seventh seed Veronika Kudermetova in the second round of the WTA 1000 event. The former World No. 5 enjoys a perfect 2-0 head-to-head record against Kudermetova.

Bouchard received a wildcard into the main draw of the Guadalajara Open last year as well. She defeated American Kayla Day in her tournament opener before falling to Jelena Ostapenko in the second round.