Former WTA star turned pickleball player Eugenie Bouchard predicted about Coco Gauff’s potential in one of the fastest-growing sports in America. Bouchard herself has ditched the WTA tour to focus on her pickleball career, and she answers what would happen if Gauff also did the same.
In her recent appearance on The Kitchen Pickleball podcast, Bouchard was asked how Gauff would fare on the pickleball court professionally if she decides to drop tennis.
“She’s so athletic,” Bouchard said. “I mean, she would kill the singles game pretty quickly. I think all tennis players naturally feel pretty good on the singles court. But she does really well in doubles as well, it’s something Jack Sock had. He was really good in doubles. And so I think that helps the doubles in pickleball. And I was less of a doubles player, which shows in my struggles in doubles and pickleball.”
While answering about singles pickleball, Bouchard is confident that it will require just eight months for the two-time Grand Slam champion to reach among the top-ranked players.
“So I don’t know. Top five? Like eight months,” she answered.
Eugenie Bouchard Not So Confident About Coco Gauff’s Potential in Pickleball Doubles
While she was highly confident about Coco Gauff’s potential in pickleball singles, Eugenie Bouchard raised doubts if the American tennis star would be able to achieve the same level of success as she could in singles. Bouchard said the doubles in pickleball require a different set of skillsets, which may not be easy for tennis stars to replicate, even for someone like Gauff.
“I mean, I think that’s harder. I don’t know if she would get to the top five,” Bouchard said. “You said top five? These girls are so good. It’s so hard. There’s also no magic pill. You can’t like jump forward a year of training, right? You have to go through that year of training. And so they have the advantage of time, first of all. And it’s just hard to compete against that.”
However, these are just hypothetical scenarios and only once Gauff steps foot on a professional pickleball court can we get an idea of how she would do.
At the moment, Gauff is preparing for the 2026 campaign, with the Australian Open on the horizon. But before that, she will participate in the United Cup for Team USA. The tournament will take place from January 2-11, 2026. Team USA is scheduled to play matches against Argentina and Spain.
