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Montreal – Genie Bouchard and Carson Branstine are only 6 1/2 apart in age – not even half a generation, in tennismen.
But on Monday evening in Montreal, Bouchard leaves the sport (unless she wins), while Branstine announces her arrival.
At the age of 31, Bouchard has been outside the scene for years for all purposes. She struggled in the ranking, received an offer that she could not refuse (none of us would) to play a sport with whom she had, but a passing knowledge in Pickleball. And now she will say goodbye when she is eliminated from the Omnium Banque Nationale.
It can come on Monday evening against Emiliana Arango from Colombia. It may not be. Everything to discover.
This will be Bouchard’s 15th performance during the event; She played it every year, except between 2020 and 2022.
It will be the first main draw for Branstine, which played in the qualification in 2017, 2018, 2019 and a year ago – and lost every time in the first round.
Following Bouchard on the field will be Branstine, who will be 25 in just over a month, but just starts in a very real sense.
She plays Maria Sakkari, who, for a few encouraging victories last week in Washington, demonstrably had a worse season than Branstine, who was a South Californian patried to Canada in 2017 because of her mother born in Toronto.
Bouchard and Branstine practiced together on Saturday.
This is what it looked like.
Bouchard has not played much in recent years; From what we hear, her contract with clothing company New Balance requires that she is baptizing her big toe once a year in the tennis world. What is understandable; It is literally the space in which she built her brand.
Prior to this career final, she arrived at a WTA 125 tournament on grass in Newport, Rhode Island and lost it in straight sets – after a good start – to an American just within the top 300.
Last week in DC she took a wildcard in the Doubles with Washington resident Clervie Ngounoue. But they were lucky to get the recurring Venus Williams and another local, the talented Hailey Baptiste.
So that was for the preparation.
She is here with former Tennis Canada Dames National Coach and BJK Cup captain Sylvain Bruneau, who has moved as a full -time television analyst but is back for the final.
And her fans in Montreal-from which there are many, even posting Genie-Achoret era Hebben for every moment that she can offer them.
“Ik heb absoluut een gemengde zak emoties. Ik zou zeggen dat er verdriet zit, geluk, hulp, opwinding. Dus ja, het wordt zeker een emotionele week, maar ik wil gewoon proberen elk moment te omarmen en het echt te waarderen en te zien als een gelukkige viering. Wanneer ik terugkijk, als ik terugkijk, als ik terug kijk, als ik terug kijk, als ik terug kijk, als ik terug kijk, als ik terug kijk, als ik terug kijk, als ik terug kijk, als ik terug Look, when I look back, when I look back, when I look back, when I look back, “Bouchard said the tour.
Relief?
“Relief would be that I no longer have to suffer. Tennis is a very hard sport, and you have to push yourself through physical pain every day. That is something that I have done for 20 to 25 years. There is just a burden of your shoulders knowing that I no longer have to do that,” she added.
Bouchard’s last semi-full season was 2023-she played 12 tournaments, including a WTA 125 at a lower level and an ITF event at a high level.
In eight of the other 10 she played the qualification, but was only successful once, in Madrid. She received a few wildcards in smaller events, because her ranking fell outside the top 200. But writing was on the wall; Either she built a kind of plan to set up one last serious indictment, or she accepted the inevitable. The pickleball money made that decision easier.
But in that sense, suffering ended a while ago. The only thing that remains is the adieu.
For Branstine, who was a top junior and combined with Bianca Andreescu to win Junior titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2017, the path was a lot of rockier than for Bouchard, who quickly switched from a junior career that lasted until she was 18 1/2 directly in the pus.
Branstine came across a few major obstacles – her knees and hips (four operations) and the pandemic. She joined two university teams (USC, Virginia) without playing a point. And she finally brought it all together on Texas A&M.
She has made her own way without really having a coach. But during a trip to Belgium a while ago, after her number 1 debut in Wimbledon after qualifying, she found Gérald Moretti a 32-year-old Belgian who played some college tennis in Hawaii Pacific, and then briefly worked in the pros with players such as Yanina Wickmayer.
The Lefty has an eternal smile on his face, which seems to balance the intense perfectionist series of Branstine.
The current ranking of Branstine is number 191, just below a career height of No. 178, reached a few years ago.
She broke in the top 200 for the first time in March, at the age of 24 1/2.
For comparison, Bouchard did that when she was only 18 – a month after winning the Wimbledon Juniors. It was here in Montreal, in 2012, when she received a Main-Draw Wildcard and no. 56 arranged Shahar PE’er in the first round before she lost to Li after.
But it’s not a comparison; It’s not a race. Each player has his own path that is unique to them.
On Monday evening, one of the two can say goodbye forever.
The other, with a heavy question against Sakkari, might say very hello.
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