Genie Bouchard to Play Delray Beach Open Women’s Tennis Challenge

Genie Bouchard is taking her talents back to the beach.

 The Delray Beach Open will host the Women’s Tennis Challenge at 8 p.m. Saturday, February 10th, as part of the event’s first weekend at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center.

The women’s exhibition match will feature two current pros with Wimbledon highlights on their resumes: Former Wimbledon finalist and world No. 5 Genie Bouchard and reigning junior Wimbledon champion Clervie Ngounoue.

Tickets for that match and all other sessions are on sale now at DelrayBeachOpen.com

The women join the Feb. 9-11 opening weekend lineup of the ATP Champions Tour Legends event that features six-time DBO champions Bob and Mike Bryan, the most successful doubles team in the history of the sport, former world No. 2 Tommy Haas, former Delray Beach champions Ivo Karlovic and Sam Querrey, local pros Jesse Levine and Scoville Jenkins, and past French Open champions Luke and Murphy Jensen.

Alongside the legends on Saturday and Sunday will be qualifying matches for the ATP 250 tournament. The Delray Beach Open main draw begins Monday, Feb. 12, with daily play until the championship match on Sunday, Feb. 18.

Bouchard, 29, had a historic run to the 2014 Wimbledon final to become the first Canadian, male or female, to reach a Grand Slam final. A native of Montreal, she also was the first Canadian to reach a career-high world ranking of No. 5 to cap a 2014 season that also saw her reach the Australian and French Open semifinals and qualify for the year-end WTA Finals. Last month, Bouchard was a member of Canada’s first Billie Jean King Cup championship team. Off court, Bouchard notably has more than 2.4 million Instagram followers.

Ngounoue (pronounced n-GOO-nuh-way), a native of Washington, D.C., was the world’s No. 1 ranked junior in June and won the Wimbledon girls’ title in July. She also owns Australian and French Open girls doubles titles. The 17-year-old up-and-coming American has a win over the WTA’s No. 37-ranked player and won the 2023 USTA National Championship to earn a wild card into the US Open. She turned pro in September.

Two top-ranked Americans are set to headline the ATP 250 main draw. Delray Beach Open reigning champion and world No. 10 Taylor Fritz will begin his title defense on Wednesday night, Feb. 14, while American compatriot and No. 13 Tommy Paul will open play on Thursday night, Feb. 15. Night sessions start at 6 p.m., with Fritz and Paul scheduled to play the 8 p.m. matches.