In pictures: Eugenie Bouchard spends a Christmas unlike any other in Dubai
Eugenie Bouchard's team brought a plum cake for her on the occasion of Christmas, a gesture that overwhelmed the tennis star.
The Canadian is currently in Dubai, where she participated in the inaugural edition of the World Tennis League exhibition tournament. She did not skip practice on December 25, and was part of Team Kites - the other members being World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, fellow countryman Felix Auger-Aliassime, India's Sania Mirza, and the young sensation Holger Rune.
The Kites ended up at the top of the table after the league stage but lost in the finals against Team Hawks, which featured Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Elena Rybakina, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Bouchard got to play one match; she teamed up with Rune but went down 6-2, 6-3 against Nick Kyrgios and Bianca Andreescu of Team Eagles on Day 1.
The 28-year-old has stayed back in Dubai to prepare for next season. On Sunday, she took to social media to post a video of herself unpacking a plum cake on the tennis court after her practice session.
"My Dubai fam got me a plum cake for Christmas after practice," Bouchard wrote.
She posted another story while relaxing at the beach after practice and stated that she had never experienced a Christmas like this one.
"Never had Christmas like this before," she wrote.
Bouchard suffered a serious shoulder injury at the start of the 2021 season and was forced to stay away from the action for 17 months. She returned to the tennis court in August this year and ended her season with the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland in November.
Her win-loss record for the season stands at 6-9. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist is currently placed in the 326th position in the WTA rankings.
Eugenie Bouchard designs t-shirt for her fans
Eugenie Bouchard recently revealed on social media that she has designed a t-shirt, especially for her fans. The reason for this was that the Canadian star had made a comeback to tennis after a long gap due to an injury. The t-shirt has her name and the number 22 on it, which stands for the year 2022.
"To quickly give some background, I play in individual sport so we don't have jerseys and I always thought it would be cool to be able to give fans something they could wear to represent the player that they support. I took all the time to design this during my injury break. It was something I wanted to release as I came back on tour and that's what the 22 represents, the year 2022, which is very important for me," Bouchard said.