Eugenie Bouchard tweets about playing dopers in Madrid, then backtracks

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“There’s something about playing dopers in Madrid,” Eugenie Bouchard tweeted following her Wednesday’s win over Dayana Yastremska at the Mutua Madrid Open, which came six years after she defeated Maria Sharapova on the same stage. The Canadian then put back her words as she “did not mean to cause harm.”

Eugenie Bouchard
Eugenie Bouchard at the 2023 Mutua Madrid Open.

In the first round of the 2023 Mutua Madrid Open, Bouchard recorded a 6-7(6) 6-2 6-2 victory over Yastremska. The Ukrainian was provisionally suspended in January 2021 due to testing positive for mesterolone metabolite, however, in June that same year she was found not guilty and could resume her career immediately.

Bouchard and Sharapova shake hands after the 2017 Madrid Open match.

In 2017, Bouchard defeated Sharapova 7-5 2-6 6-4 in the second round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid, as the Russian was playing just her second event after returning from a 15-month doping ban.

As this week’s win over Yastremska was Bouchard’s first main-draw win at the Madrid Open since 2017, she made an analogy about beating dopers in the Spanish capital, but she later deleted the insulting tweet and apologized:

I want to apologize for my tweet yesterday. It was a lapse in judgment, and unnecessary. Though I’ve always championed fair play, I didn’t have all my facts in order and certainly didn’t mean to cause harm. I’m going to continue to work on myself going forward, both on and off the court.

Following the win over Yastremska, qualifier Bouchard lost to Martina Trevisan of Italy in the second round of the 2023 Madrid Open. (photos: Jimmie48)

2 COMMENTS

  1. Somebody needs to bring this girl to reality. She acts as if she is still relevant when in actuality she is far from one. She may want to focus her energy to improving her no longer effective style of play than throwing shade at other players.

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