DALLAS, TX – When Genie Bouchard signed with the PPA Tour in September 2023, we knew we were in for a treat. 

Before joining the professional pickleball ranks, the 30-year-old Canadian enjoyed a successful tennis career, achieving a career-high ranking of World No. 5 in 2014, so the switch garnered plenty of interest. 

But if there’s one thing we know about pickleball players with tennis backgrounds, it's that they’re eventually going to be good after negotiating the inevitable learning curve. 

When Bouchard officially debuted in January, it was clear that the transition to the smaller 20x44 court would take some time, which was totally fine with her.

She fully expected that an adjustment period would be necessary.

“I started out and I lost a bunch of matches right off the bat. That was a little bit to be expected from my end,” noted Bouchard. “I feel outward expectations were different. People thought I could come in and start killing it, which isn't fair to all my opponents. I’m playing against bona fide professionals in pickleball, and they’ve been playing this specific game and studying the skill sets for years, so it would be silly of me to even think I could come in after one month of training and compete with them.”

She eventually secured her first victory at the Fanatics Sportsbook North Carolina Cup in women’s singles against Lauren Stratman.

That did wonders for her confidence.

“When I finally won a match, that kind of got the monkey off my back, so to speak. Since then, I’ve definitely felt more relaxed,” confirmed Bouchard. “Before I won a match, I was very stressed about it because I wanted to do well.”

After all, she's a competitor. 

“It’s just taken time on the court to build up my skills. It takes practice, reps, and matches to understand how your opponent is beating you, and then you go practice and work on tactics to compete against what they’re doing to you,” explained Bouchard. “It’s been a long journey and I still have a very long way to go, but at least I’ve won some matches and I feel like I belong on tour.”

As Bouchard continues to improve, she even taught her first pickleball clinic in partnership with Invited in Tampa, FL.

“I taught clinics throughout my tennis career in terms of playing with amateurs and teaching them, but I’d never done it for pickleball, and I don’t even feel good enough at pickleball to be able to say I can teach someone in it,” she confided. “I just tried to have fun with the amateurs and explain my experiences.”

In fact, Bouchard found that sharing those experiences with attendees was a recipe for success.

“Let’s say someone was going from tennis to pickleball, I’d share the troubles I had and how I tried to learn and get better from them, and share the typical mistakes that tennis players make when playing pickleball,” she mentioned. “It was fun to be around a bunch of passionate people who were really into pickleball and play with them.”

While a break in the schedule is always beneficial to rest and recharge, Bouchard is eagerly anticipating the second half of the PPA Tour campaign.

“I want to get a bunch of wins of, course. I hate losing. I’m a competitor no matter what I do. My goal is ultimately to win a tournament, or at least medal in one. I don’t know how soon that can happen, but I’m working towards it so it happens as soon as possible,” she said. “Even if you don’t make the finals, even if you lose in the semis, you play for bronze on Championship Sunday. We don’t have that in tennis. I think that’s kind of cool, and I would love to have the chance to win as much as I can.”