Tennis Canada awaits Bouchard's decision on playing at Rio Olympics

By Bill Beacon, The Canadian Press

Milos Raonic has already pulled out of the Olympics and now Tennis Canada is awaiting final word on whether Eugenie Bouchard will play at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Bouchard, ranked 41st in the world, is entered in the event, but no one is sure if Canada's top women's singles player will go.

"I'm kind of a last-minute person, so I'm going to make a decision next week, I guess, the week before," Bouchard said after her first-round loss to Camila Giorgi at the Citi open in Washington. "I really don't know what to do at this point."

Bouchard said she had concerns over the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which is known to cause birth defects and is currently active in Brazil.

'Truly undecided' 

"I am trying to learn as much as I can about [Zika], obviously," she said. "I don't know if anyone knows enough about it to really give a good opinion on whether, as athletes, we should go or not. I just don't know if the health of my future babies is worth it, so that's what I'm trying to decide in my head.

"I'm truly undecided, and you see more and more people pulling out as kind of the deadline gets closer. It's just unfortunate because it would be my first Games, and to have a problem like this kind of dampening the excitement of potentially your first Olympic Games, it really sucks, to be honest."

Tennis Canada president and CEO Kelly Murumets acknowledged that health issues have made the decision tough for Bouchard.

'A little nervous' 

"I know that she wants to play the Olympics and she's been part of our campaign and she's wearing the Canadian flag on her heart," Murumets said Tuesday at a news conference to announce that National Bank has extended its sponsorship for another six years. "I think the health concerns in Rio are scaring her a bit, so I think she's a little bit on the fence.

"She's signed all the papers and we have hotel and flights for her, but I think she's a little nervous."

Gabriella Dabrowski of Ottawa, Canada's top doubles player, may be even more nervous. She's scheduled to team with Bouchard in Rio, but if the Westmount, Que., native pulls out, Dabrowski won't go either.

Murumets, who spoke to Bouchard at a photo shoot in Toronto last week, expects that Bouchard will talk to Dabrowski before making her decision. Both are to play at the women's Rogers Cup in Montreal next week.

Raonic already out of Rio

Seventh ranked Raonic announced this week he will not go to Rio due to concerns over health, including Zika.

Murumets said the Thornhill, Ont., resident will focus on the men's Rogers Cup in Toronto and the U.S. Open at the end of August instead.

"Milos is a very intense, intelligent man and I respect his decision," she said. "He does not take this lightly.

"He has represented Canada all over the world with great pride. I really do think it was about the health concerns in Rio and he just didn't want to take any chances."

The women's Rogers Cup expects a full field of the world's top players except for Victoria Azarenka, who has taken a break because she is pregnant. It's an ideal preparation for the Olympics, which will also be played on hard courts.

The men's Rogers Cup saw its field get severely depleted over the last two days with the world No. 2 Andy Murray, No. 3 Roger Federer and No. 4 Rafael Nadal.

Murray, coming off a win over Raonic in the Wimbledon final, pull out this week because of fatigue, which didn't surprise Tennis Canada vice-president Eugene Lapierre.

"Murray's had a long season," said Lapierre. "He's been doing good in almost every tournament he played — finals, winning events, winning Wimbledon.

"It's tough. The guy was hurt. In the final match, if Milios could have taken that third set, I don't think Murray was there any more."

Early exit

In Washington Tuesday, Bouchard, seeded fifth, was upset by Italy's Giorgi in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, in the first round of the Citi Open.

It's the fourth time in the Canadian's past 10 tournaments that she has lost her opening match. Bouchard most recently reached the round of 32 at Wimbledon before losing to Dominika Cibulkova.

Bouchard battled back from a 4-1 first-set deficit to tie it at 4- and 5-all before Giorgi held serve and broke her to win 7-5.

When Bouchard was broken to fall behind 4-2 in the second set, she threw her racket to the ground. After battling back to get it to 5-4, she was broken again to lose the match.