Genie Bouchard Looks Strong in These Clips From Her First Pickleball Semifinals

The dual sport athlete is making a name for herself on the PPA Tour.

Genie Bouchard / Christopher Polk/Getty Images

At the end of last year, Genie Bouchard signed onto the PPA Tour, the latest venture in professional pickleball. She wasn’t walking away from tennis by any means. Over the past few months, she has continued to practice and participate in professional tennis tournaments. But, at the same time, she has embraced a new racket sport.

She’s joined the movement at a good time. Not only is it taking off from a professional standpoint, but pickleball is gaining traction among amateurs, too. In a summer episode of Not Alone, a podcast hosted by Valeria Lipovetsky, Bouchard spoke to pickleball’s tremendous rise in popularity among athletes and non-athletes alike. Witnessing tennis courts being converted into pickleball courts in her current home of Miami, she admitted that the tennis player in her was upset. But the pickleball pro in her was excited. “It’s kinda fun to be a part of a movement almost that is exploding right now,” she said.

Her participation in that movement hasn’t been without success, either. Bouchard was relatively new to the sport when she signed onto the tour. But in the months since, she has really come into her own. In her most recent tournament, for example, the 30-year-old advanced to the semifinals of a professional pickleball event for the first time.

The setting was the Rate Championships in Las Vegas, which took place last week. Bouchard secured back-to-back upsets in the round of 16 and quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals for the first time in her professional pickleball career. Though a loss propelled her into the bronze medal match rather than the gold medal match, the athlete is still counting the weekend as a win—and she should, too.

Bouchard took to her Instagram on Oct. 17 to celebrate the accomplishment. Alongside a really impressive video compilation of the pickleball pro on the courts in Las Vegas, she wrote “my first pickleball semis 🥹,” signaling her excitement regarding the feat.

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Dressed in a set from her sponsor New Balance, a brand she signed with back in 2021, Bouchard proved that PPA events are anything but amateur. She looked fierce as she covered the court in Las Vegas.

As of now, the athlete hasn’t voiced her plans for the coming year. Her initial deal with the PPA Tour guaranteed one year of play, but with her upward trajectory on the courts, we wouldn’t be surprised if she extended her time on the tour.